What information do I need to make a payment to the United Arab Emirates (UAE)?

From 1 January 2019, payments to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are required by the UAE regulator to include the following information.
- A code confirming where the person you're paying lives. If they are a UAE resident, include the country code ‘AE’. Alternatively, please indicate the correct two digit country code from the list of country codes.
- A purpose of payment code – this should describe the reason for the payment. You can find the full list of codes to choose from
here (pages 15 to 21)
- When making a mobile or online payment, add these codes to line one of the ‘payment reference’ field.
For example, if a salary payment is being made to a UAE resident, the information provided would be:
BENEFRES/AE//SAL
If you don't add these, payments may be returned to you. If you have any questions, please message us within your app or contact Coutts 24 on +44 (0) 20 7957 2424.