UAE Investment Funds Regulations: A New Era for Oversight
Type
E-journal
Date
12 Feb 2013
Jurisdiction
United Arab Emirates
Taxonomy
Financial Services & Activities
Copyright
LexisNexis
Relevant company
Clyde & Co
Legal reference
Securities and Commodities Authority Resolution No. 37/2012
Analysis
Over eighteen months after the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA) issued its Draft Decision on Investment Funds, the final version has been published in the UAE Official Gazette. ESCA's Board Decision No. 37 of 2012, Concerning the Regulations as to Investment Funds (the Regulations), which was issued on 22 July 2012, came into effect on 27 August 2012. The Regulations have introduced some of the biggest changes the UAE financial market has seen to date.
Local UAE funds
The Regulations have vastly increased the requirements and supervision of local UAE funds. For a market which was previously light on regulations these changes will require a rapid change in business; investment funds only have until the 26 August 2013 to comply with all the changes.
Local UAE funds will now have to submit an application for a fund licence to ESCA which can take up to 30 days to be processed. Certain newly introduced requirements include:
• the investment fund being required to have a starting capital of AED 10 million;