The General Secretariat of the UAE's National Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation Financing Committee, in cooperation with Themis, published an assessment of how artificial intelligence, virtual assets, e-commerce and digital payments are reshaping the country's financial crime risks. The paper finds that criminal networks are using these technologies to expand and automate fraud, money laundering and other illicit activity, reinforcing the need for coordinated action among authorities, regulators and the private sector. Artificial intelligence is enabling fraud at greater scale through deepfakes, automated scams, phishing toolkits and fraud-as-a-service products. Criminal groups are also combining encrypted communications, digital payments, virtual assets and online marketplaces to facilitate fraud, drug trafficking and the laundering of proceeds. The paper notes that the UAE's expanding fintech and virtual-asset sectors increase exposure to money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risks, with the fintech market projected to reach USD 3.5 billion in 2025 and crypto inflows exceeding USD 34 billion in 2024. The assessment supports the UAE's wider National Risk Assessment work and highlights continuing reforms to strengthen AML/CFT/CPF supervision, virtual-asset service provider oversight, cyber-intelligence capabilities and cooperation among law enforcement, regulators and private-sector partners.

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