End-to-end DFSA and FSRA authorisation support — from initial structuring through application, Key Individual interviews and post-licence compliance.
DFSA and FSRA authorisation is a 6–9 month process with multiple submissions, business plans, capital adequacy demonstrations and senior interviews. We project-manage the entire process end-to-end.
DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) and ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market) are the two financial free zones with their own regulators — DFSA and FSRA respectively.
We work across both, and across all categories from Cat 4 advisory firms to Cat 3A brokers and Cat 1 banks.
Operating regulated financial services activities in the UAE requires authorisation from the relevant regulator. The four primary financial services regulators are:
Each regulator has different categories of authorisation, capital requirements, application timelines and ongoing obligations. The DFSA has 5 categories from Cat 1 (banks) to Cat 5 (Islamic financial institutions managing PSIAs). The FSRA has its own structure including categories for fund managers, brokers, custodians, fintech and digital asset platforms. SCA covers brokers, advisors, fund managers and crypto asset service providers. Choosing the right jurisdiction and category up-front saves significant time and cost.
A typical UAE financial services authorisation takes 4 to 9 months from initial application to in-principle approval, plus another 1 to 3 months to full operational launch. The journey includes business plan, financial projections, regulatory business plan (RBP), compliance and AML manuals, key individual applications (CEO, CO, MLRO, FO), capital arrangements and physical office setup.
We assess your proposed activities against each regulator's categories. Output: recommended jurisdiction, category, capital requirement, expected timeline and cost.
Regulatory business plan (RBP), financial projections (3 year), compliance manual, AML manual, risk framework, governance documents, Key Individual application forms.
We submit, respond to regulator queries, attend regulator interviews with your Key Individuals, and shepherd the application through to in-principle approval.
Office lease, capital deposit, professional indemnity insurance, banking, Key Individual on-boarding. We coordinate everything until your licence is fully issued.
Once licensed, the regulator's ongoing obligations begin — annual reporting, regulatory returns, periodic risk assessments. We provide ongoing compliance support via our compliance services.