About the Director General
HE Hamid AlZaabi is the founding Director General of the Executive Office of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing. The EO AML/CTF is the UAE’s national authority for anti-financial crime, responsible for shaping national AML/CFT strategy and policy and ensuring implementation of the National Strategy and Action Plan. It has a wide-ranging mandate a national champion and safeguard to ensure the UAE has a sustainable and resilient AML/CFT system.
Prior to his appointment to establish the EO AML/CTF, HE AlZaabi served over two decades as a senior economic security official with a focus on financial crime and counter the financing of terrorism. He was a member of various senior national committees and task forces steering high level strategic projects, including the UAE’s successful hosting of Expo 2020 Dubai and the government response to COVID-19.
HE AlZaabi has participated in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenaries since 2010, recently as head of the UAE delegation. As a member of the Higher Committee Overseeing the National Strategy on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing, he played a vital role in leading the UAE’s successful navigation of the FATF’s International Cooperation Review Group process that led to the country’s delisting in February 2024. He oversighted the launch and implementation of many successful projects such as improved re-rating of FATF Recommendations (39 out of 40 are compliant) and the UAE being granted formal observer status at the Asia/Pacific Group, a leading FATF-Style Regional Body.
HE AlZaabi is a graduate of the UAE Government Leadership Program and holds two Master’s degrees, in Senior Leadership Development from the International Business School, and Human Resources Management from Abu Dhabi University. He was awarded a BA in Legal and Police Sciences from the Police College, Abu Dhabi.
In February 2024 HE AlZaabi was awarded the Order of Zayed II First Class by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE President in recognition of his contribution to the achievement in the UAE's removal from FATF’s list of ‘Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring’.