The Banking Supervision and Examination Department is responsible for supervising the Banking Sector, including local banks, branches and representative offices of foreign banks, moneychangers, finance companies, brokers in shares and financial instruments, financial investment companies and financial consultancies. It is not responsible for regulating the insurance sector of the economy (which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce) or for regulating the Abu Dhabi Securities Market and the Dubai Financial Market (both of which are supervised by the Emirates Securities and Commodities Market and Authority).

The Department is responsible for setting the standards and regulating the Sector (which it does through the issue of Circulars and Notices), and for monitoring compliance and performance by detailed and regular examination of all the entities for which it is responsible. In addition, it processes applications for licences and various forms of approval required, and attends to the formalities of licence renewal.

The Anti-Money Laundering and Suspicious Cases Unit also operates from within the Department. This Unit is the heart of the UAE’s effort to combat money laundering. All suspicious cases, from whatever source, are reported to, and investigated by, the Unit. In addition, the Unit acts as Banking Sector Ombudsman, determining the merit and seriousness of complaints raised by customers and other third parties against the entities supervised by the Department.

International relationships with other regulatory authorities and supranational institutions (such as: the Bank for International Settlements; the Financial Action Task Force; the International Monetary Fund; and the World Bank) also fall within the terms of reference of the Department.