The official was speaking after news reports in the UAE claimed that the State of Kuwait had frozen a number of bank accounts in compliance with the sanctions recently passed against Iran by the UN Security Council. The senior bank official, who spoke to the Kuwait Times on condition of anonymity, said that he was unaware of any move to freeze any accounts in any of Kuwait’s banks.
Another official at a local Islamic bank revealed that the transaction and transfer system is tightly monitored at every stage: "There is a list of all the names, banks, organizations and countries to which transactions are not allowed," he explained.
The official stressed that all those included on the list are globally blacklisted entities: "Prior to proceeding with the money transfer, we are instructed to check out this list of accounts that is updated regularly and to abide by these lists, and not deal in any way with the parties included on this blacklist," he revealed.
An employee at another local bank, who also spoke to the Kuwait Times on condition of anonymity, revealed that this blacklist is displayed on a Central Bank of Kuwait-controlled website, adding that if anyone tries to make a transfer to any of the individuals or bodies included on the list will simply be refused.
The official explained that apart from not carrying out any transactions on behalf of those included on the list, the banks do not take any other action. "We don’t take any additional steps, because these people might be innocent; they may have done nothing wrong, and many of those on the blacklist are not necessarily criminals, they could just be people in countries which are subjected to sanctions by the UN," he noted.
He also revealed that even those monetary transactions to people and organizations not included on the blacklist are closely monitored, with the data regarding these transactions being stored in a special database for reference in any possible future enquiries.
All the authorities that have the right to access this information will be able to retrieve it for ten years after the transfer takes place," he explained. "We always get these kinds of requests for transaction histories. It’s a simple procedure.