BAHRAIN: COMMERCIAL BANK OF SYRIA PATRIOT ACT

UNCLAS MANAMA 000706 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS FOR BADKINS, S/CT FOR VNICHOLS, NEA/ARP TREASURY FOR DGLASER AND OFAC FOR RWERNER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN KJUS KTFN KNNP MNUC PARM PREL BA REGION CTR SUBJECT: BAHRAIN: COMMERCIAL BANK OF SYRIA PATRIOT ACT DESIGNATION REF: STATE 58728 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. ¶1. (SBU) Econoff and TreasAtt April 19 delivered reftel demarche to Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA) Compliance Director Ahmed Bumtaia. Bumtaia promised to review the non-paper and affirmed his commitment to protecting the integrity of Bahrain's financial system. He assured Emboffs there would be "no relaxing" of the BMA's commitment to a "clean system." He also pledged to support and enhance BMA cooperation with the U.S. on terror finance issues and noted that the Anti-Money Laundering Unit, which had been overseen by the Ministry of Finance, now fell under the auspices of the BMA. Bumtaia said he planned to increase the Compliance Directorate's staff from five to fifteen. ¶2. (U) Bio Note: Ahmed Jassim Bumtaia replaced Khalid Al-Jaber as BMA Compliance Unit Director in January. The change coincides with an upgrade of the Compliance Unit to a Directorate. He has been with the BMA for ten years and was Head of Economic Research for the past three years, prior to assuming his present position. Bumtaia was a member of Bahrain's U.S. - Bahrain Free Trade Agreement negotiating team. End Note. MONROE