The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has pubished its DFSA in Action 2017 report. The highlights from the report are below.As at 30 September 2017:
- 45 new licences issued.
- 59 applications accepted.
- 457 Authorised Firms regulated by the DFSA.
- Regulatory oversight for 16 Registered Auditors, 119 Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions, 62 Recognised Members, 34 Reporting Entities and 2 Authorised Market Institutions.
Highlights
- The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has strongly emerged as a reinsurance hub for the Middle East and Africa benefitting from growing expertise, wider product offerings and increased underwriting capacity.
- There has been a rise in asset management applications.
- Funds activity in the DIFC has increased. The DFSA has processed 11 fund applications so far this year). The Qualified Investor Fund (QIF) regime attracted five Funds, four Exempt Funds and 2 Public Funds including a Real Estate Investment Trust listed on Nasdaq Dubai.
- In May the DFSA introduced the Innovation Testing Licence - a special class of financial services licence that allows FinTech firms to develop and test innovative concepts from the DIFC.
- In August the DFSA introduced a bespoke framework for loan and investment crowdfunding platforms (a first for the GCC).
The final report of the review of Client Classification and Suitability will be available this quarter. The main findings were:
- Failure to document client assessment in respect of client knowledge and experience.
- Failure to record the sub-category of Professional Client classification assigned to clients in accordance with Section 2 of the COB Rulebook Module.
The final report of the financial crime thematic review will be available this quarter. The report highlighted the need to improve the quality of Business AML Risk Assessments and transaction monitoring frameworks.
The outcome from the Survey of Authorised firms in the DIFC to better understand the risk arising from the use of cloud storage will be published soon.
Consultation Papers issued
- Consultation Paper No. 109 Crowdfunding: SME Financing Through Lending
- Consultation Paper No.110 DFSA Fees (+ Feedback Statement on CP110 DFSA Fees)
- Consultation Paper No.111 Crowdfunding: SME Financing Through Investing
- Consultation Paper No.112 Testing Fintech Innovations in the DIFC
- Consultation Paper No.113 Capital Requirements Review
- Consultation Paper No.114 Liquidity Requirements Review
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