UAE Capital Market Authority Licensed 68 New Firms in Nine Months, With 30 More in Review

The figures show how quickly the federal securities regulator's roster is growing as Abu Dhabi and Dubai compete for asset managers, brokers and advisers. Al Awadhi said the total number of licensed companies was up 43% from a year earlier, and the number of accredited professionals was up 64%. As part of its vetting, the authority sent more than 250 fit-and-proper requests to overseas regulators during the period.

Al Awadhi said the CMA is working to process applications that meet all requirements within seven working days. He said the authority is redesigning its licensing and employee accreditation procedures, and using artificial intelligence, to cut unnecessary paperwork while keeping its supervisory standards. He did not give details of how AI is being applied.

Funds and Trading

Domestic investment funds rose 94% year on year to 97 in the first nine months, Al Awadhi said, and their assets under management grew 30% to AED28.6 billion. Listed companies raised about AED3.4 billion through capital increases over the same period.

Trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and the Dubai Financial Market totalled about AED408.2 billion in the nine months, with foreign investors accounting for 49% of the value traded. Al Awadhi said market performance should be judged on liquidity, the breadth of the investor base and sustained activity rather than on individual investment flows.

On new listings, he said the CMA had approved the share offering of DIP Holding PLC, the Dubai Investments Park landlord, which announced in October that it would sell part of its shares to the public and list on the Dubai Financial Market. DIP Holding is due to begin trading on November 11.

Rules in the Pipeline

Al Awadhi set out a list of regulatory projects. They include a framework for an investor protection fund, rules for designating systemically important entities so the authority can supervise them more closely, rules on demergers of public joint-stock companies, and rules for moving the registration of public joint-stock companies from free zones to the mainland.

The CMA has also applied capital requirements aligned with the Basel III standards to its licensed firms, he said, and is tightening corporate governance disclosure rules. With the Middle East Investor Relations Association, it is launching a programme to train more than 100 Emirati investor relations professionals.

In 2027, Al Awadhi said, the authority will focus on emerging technologies, including the tokenisation of assets, as it expands the range of investments available under its supervision.