Yemen
Overview
Yemen’s AML/CFT legal history begins with Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 35 of 2003 and was replaced/strengthened by Law No. 1 of 2010, later amended by Law No. 17 of 2013. The Deep layer keeps these successive statutory stages distinct. Aden authorities in 2026 circulated specific AML/CFT requirements for gold and precious-stone traders and, on 15 September, the Central Bank of Yemen (Aden) issued a supervised-institution virtual-assets dealing prohibition. The territorial and institutional scope of each authority must be observed.
CDD, beneficial-owner identification and preventive obligations are mapped through the 2010 law and 2013 amendment plus MENAFATF assessment evidence. No comprehensive public central beneficial-ownership register is asserted without direct current evidence.
The Financial Intelligence Unit receives, analyses and disseminates suspicious-transaction information under the 2010 statutory framework. Current institutional evidence is supplemented by official FIU reporting materials.
Compliance Calendar2
Requirement
Suspicious Transaction Report to the FIU
Authority / Report toFinancial Information Unit (Aden-based current operating FIU described in the 2025 report)
Deadline / triggerSubmit under the current applicable Yemeni AML/CFT rule; the 2025 FIU report confirms operational receipt but does not establish a safe universal numeric clock for this Calendar.
Requirement
- Subject scope
- Financial institutions, non-financial institutions and designated professions within the AML/CFT law, subject to the current operating/jurisdictional context.
- Trigger
- A suspicious transaction relevant to money laundering, terrorist financing or associated predicate offences is identified.
- Filing channel
- Banks and exchange entities have a practical electronic STR form/direct electronic link launched in 2025; other sectors must use the currently prescribed FIU route.
Impact
- Consequences of non-compliance
- Failure to report may lead to action under the AML/CFT law, subject to the current enforcement environment.
- Enforcement authority
- Financial Information Unit / Central Bank / relevant supervisors
- Operational impact
- For banks/exchange entities, maintain access to the current electronic form; all entities should confirm the live filing clock and authority given the operating fragmentation.
Requirement
AML/CFT compliance, monitoring and FIU readiness
Authority / Report toFIU / Central Bank / relevant supervisory authority
Deadline / triggerOngoing; maintain CDD, monitoring, compliance and reporting controls under the current applicable law. Exact universal retention and review clocks require entity/local confirmation.
Requirement
- Subject scope
- Financial and non-financial institutions/designated professions within the applicable Yemeni AML/CFT perimeter.
- Trigger
- Ongoing operation, customer monitoring and compliance with AML/CFT policies/procedures.
- Filing channel
- Internal AML/CFT policies, monitoring systems, records and FIU reporting mechanisms.
Impact
- Consequences of non-compliance
- Control failures may lead to statutory/supervisory consequences, subject to current operating conditions.
- Enforcement authority
- FIU / Central Bank / relevant supervisory authorities
- Operational impact
- Keep jurisdiction-specific manual review for legal changes, regulator reach and filing route rather than treating the framework as a single stable national workflow.
Authorities & FIU1
FATF Assessment
Measures how fully the jurisdiction has implemented FATF’s technical requirements. It does not measure practical effectiveness.
Measures whether the AML/CFT system achieves its intended results in practice. No jurisdiction-specific effectiveness ratings are asserted where the consolidated dataset has no standalone assessment row.
Regulatory Timeline39
Central Bank of Yemen, Head Office Aden, issued Banking Supervision Circular No. 1/2026 on 15 September 2026, barring supervised banks, exchange companies, payment-service providers, electronic-wallet operators and related branches from dealings in virtual assets or cryptocurrencies and their service providers. The signed five-page Arabic instrument defines covered assets and providers, requires communication to relevant staff, authorises compliance supervision and states that it applies from its issuance date. Territorial and supervisory reach is that of the CBY Aden issuing authority and should not be generalised beyond it.
A primary FIU-hosted copy of ministerial decision No. 6 of 2026 prescribes AML/CFT supervisory instructions specifically for traders in jewellery, gold, precious metals and gemstones. The official Yemen Standards, Metrology and Quality Control Organization circular No. 31, dated 25 June 2026, instructs local offices and businesses in scope to implement and distribute the instructions. The separate signature and legal commencement dates of decision No. 6 could not be resolved from the verified cover pages; 25 June is the dated implementation transmittal, not a claimed statutory effective date.
The Central Bank of Yemen circular No. 4 of 2025 is dated 2 November 2025 and addressed to all banks and money-exchange companies and establishments operating in Yemen. It sets supervisory instructions for enhanced customer due diligence and checking international sanctions lists; the circular expressly discusses UN, OFAC, EU and UK list-screening and ongoing customer review. It is a national supervisory circular, not a change to the underlying international designation lists.
The Central Bank of Yemen Banking Supervision Sector circular No. 2 of 2025, dated 24 September 2025, is addressed to banks and money-exchange companies and establishments operating in Yemen. It supplements prior banking and exchange AML/CFT supervisory instructions and includes beneficial-ownership terminology and associated regulatory control requirements. The official signed Arabic document is seven pages; this is a separate circular rather than a new enactment of the 2010 AML/CFT law.
On 21 September 2025 the Yemen Financial Information Unit published its second strategic analysis dedicated to fraud and deception, with an official Arabic report dated September 2025. The publication is a financial-crime risk and typology assessment, not an amendment of banking law or a newly enforceable requirement.
FATF revised Recommendation 16 to standardise payment information and strengthen fraud/error controls in cross-border payments.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗FATF amended Recommendation 1 and related interpretive material to strengthen proportionality and simplified measures under the risk-based approach.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗FATF revised Recommendations 4, 30, 31 and 38 and related interpretive material to make asset recovery a stronger operational priority, expand tools to trace and confiscate criminal property and improve domestic and international cooperation.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗At its February 2023 Plenary FATF revised Recommendation 25 and its Interpretive Note to strengthen transparency and beneficial-ownership requirements for trusts and similar legal arrangements, complementing the 2022 strengthening of Recommendation 24 for legal persons.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗FATF strengthened Recommendation 24 on beneficial ownership transparency for legal persons.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗FATF amended Recommendations 1 and 2 and their Interpretive Notes so countries and covered private-sector entities must identify, assess and mitigate risks of breaches, non-implementation or evasion of proliferation-related targeted financial sanctions.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗The Basel Committee revised its ML/TF risk-management guidelines to add principles for information exchange and cooperation between prudential and AML/CFT supervisors in authorisation, ongoing supervision and enforcement.
A Basel supervisory publication does not become domestic law merely because it is GLOBAL. National adoption, supervisory use or incorporation must be evidenced by a LOCAL milestone or source.
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ↗FATF adopted detailed implementation requirements for virtual assets and VASPs in June 2019, including the application of wire-transfer information requirements commonly described as the Travel Rule. This operationalised the virtual-asset perimeter introduced through the 2018 Recommendation 15 revision.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗In October 2018 FATF revised Recommendation 15 and added the definitions of virtual asset and virtual asset service provider, formally bringing virtual-asset activity into the global AML/CFT standards architecture. Detailed implementation requirements followed in 2019.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗The Basel Committee issued Sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism, superseding its 2001 CDD and 2004 consolidated KYC papers and integrating ML/TF risk management with prudential supervisory expectations.
A Basel supervisory publication does not become domestic law merely because it is GLOBAL. National adoption, supervisory use or incorporation must be evidenced by a LOCAL milestone or source.
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ↗Law No. 17 of 2013 amended the national AML/CFT framework and is retained as a separate statutory milestone.
FATF adopted a consolidated revised set of 40 Recommendations integrating AML, CFT and proliferation-financing safeguards.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗FATF identified Yemen in its on-going global AML/CFT compliance process.
Law No. 1 of 2010 strengthened the AML/CFT framework and established an independent Financial Intelligence Unit under the national framework.
Resolution 1737 imposed binding measures concerning Iran’s proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities, including an asset freeze on designated individuals and entities. Together with the DPRK regime, it forms a foundational UN counter-proliferation targeted-financial-sanctions architecture.
UN Members agree to accept and carry out Security Council decisions. This current Charter relationship is not proof of the jurisdiction’s domestic implementation, nor a claim about its membership status on the historical event date.
UN Charter · Article 25 ↗Following the DPRK nuclear test, Resolution 1718 imposed binding sanctions including an asset freeze on designated persons and entities connected to the nuclear programme. It became a central UN targeted-financial-sanctions pillar for counter-proliferation financing.
UN Members agree to accept and carry out Security Council decisions. This current Charter relationship is not proof of the jurisdiction’s domestic implementation, nor a claim about its membership status on the historical event date.
UN Charter · Article 25 ↗Yemen participated in the MENAFATF inaugural ministerial meeting and founding MoU in 2004.
FATF added a ninth Special Recommendation addressing cash couriers and cross-border movement of currency.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗Resolution 1540 requires all States to adopt and enforce laws and domestic controls to prevent non-State actors from acquiring or using weapons of mass destruction and related materials. It forms a binding global legal pillar of the proliferation-financing control environment later reflected in FATF CPF standards.
UN Members agree to accept and carry out Security Council decisions. This current Charter relationship is not proof of the jurisdiction’s domestic implementation, nor a claim about its membership status on the historical event date.
UN Charter · Article 25 ↗The UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption on 31 October 2003. UNCAC addresses prevention of money laundering, laundering of corruption proceeds, confiscation and a dedicated asset-recovery framework; the Convention entered into force globally on 14 December 2005.
Current UN depositary relationship to 2003 UN Convention against Corruption. This is not a claim that the jurisdiction was already a Party on the GLOBAL event date; the national accession/ratification date is a separate LOCAL/STATUS fact.
UN Treaty Collection ↗FATF comprehensively revised its AML/CFT Recommendations, strengthening preventive measures and extending coverage.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗Yemen’s National Information Center records Law No. 35 of 2003, issued on 5 April 2003, as the first dedicated anti-money-laundering law in the national legal database.
The Basel Committee issued Customer due diligence for banks, setting minimum supervisory expectations for customer acceptance, identification, ongoing monitoring and risk management. It became an influential global banking KYC/CDD benchmark and was later reflected in FATF standards.
A Basel supervisory publication does not become domestic law merely because it is GLOBAL. National adoption, supervisory use or incorporation must be evidenced by a LOCAL milestone or source.
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ↗FATF expanded its standards to terrorist financing through eight Special Recommendations.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗Resolution 1373 requires all States to prevent and suppress terrorist financing, criminalise the provision or collection of funds for terrorist acts, freeze terrorist assets without delay and prohibit making funds or financial services available to terrorists and related entities.
UN Members agree to accept and carry out Security Council decisions. This current Charter relationship is not proof of the jurisdiction’s domestic implementation, nor a claim about its membership status on the historical event date.
UN Charter · Article 25 ↗The Palermo Convention was adopted on 15 November 2000 and broadened the international money-laundering framework beyond drug proceeds through criminalisation and preventive measures tied to transnational organised crime. It entered into force globally on 29 September 2003.
Current UN depositary relationship to 2000 Palermo Convention. This is not a claim that the jurisdiction was already a Party on the GLOBAL event date; the national accession/ratification date is a separate LOCAL/STATUS fact.
UN Treaty Collection ↗The UN General Assembly adopted the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism on 9 December 1999, creating the treaty framework for criminalising terrorist financing and international cooperation. It entered into force globally on 10 April 2002.
Current UN depositary relationship to 1999 Terrorist Financing Convention. This is not a claim that the jurisdiction was already a Party on the GLOBAL event date; the national accession/ratification date is a separate LOCAL/STATUS fact.
UN Treaty Collection ↗Resolution 1267 imposed an assets freeze and other targeted sanctions in the Taliban context and created the Security Council committee that became the foundation of the UN 1267 sanctions architecture. It is a key global precursor to modern terrorist-financing targeted financial sanctions.
UN Members agree to accept and carry out Security Council decisions. This current Charter relationship is not proof of the jurisdiction’s domestic implementation, nor a claim about its membership status on the historical event date.
UN Charter · Article 25 ↗FATF revised the Forty Recommendations to reflect evolving money-laundering methods and countermeasures.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗Representatives of 13 financial intelligence units met in Brussels on 9 June 1995 and founded what became the Egmont Group. The milestone created the operational global network for FIU-to-FIU cooperation and exchange of financial intelligence.
No Egmont member FIU is recorded in the current profile. The 1995 GLOBAL milestone is therefore context, not a membership claim.
Egmont Group · Member FIUs ↗FATF issued its original Forty Recommendations, establishing the first global AML standard framework.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗The G7 established FATF in 1989 to examine and develop measures to combat money laundering. FATF became the central global standard-setting body whose recommendations are implemented through national and regional AML/CFT frameworks.
Current relationship. This is regional assessment network participation, not direct FATF membership. The GLOBAL standard remains separate from evidence of domestic implementation.
FATF Global Network ↗The Vienna Convention was adopted on 20 December 1988 and created the first treaty-level international obligation to criminalise laundering conduct linked to drug-trafficking proceeds, alongside confiscation and international-cooperation measures. It entered into force globally on 11 November 1990.
Current UN depositary relationship to 1988 Vienna Convention. This is not a claim that the jurisdiction was already a Party on the GLOBAL event date; the national accession/ratification date is a separate LOCAL/STATUS fact.
UN Treaty Collection ↗The Basel Committee published a Statement of Principles for banks aimed at reducing the risk that banking institutions would be used by criminals or as channels for money laundering. This helped establish the preventive and supervisory side of AML alongside the emerging criminal-law framework.
A Basel supervisory publication does not become domestic law merely because it is GLOBAL. National adoption, supervisory use or incorporation must be evidenced by a LOCAL milestone or source.
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ↗