Regulatory & Compliance
UAE financial-services regulation runs on two levels — the onshore federal regulators and the financial free zones — with the federal anti-money-laundering regime over all of them. We advise across the Central Bank, the CMA (formerly the SCA) and Dubai’s VARA onshore, and the DFSA and FSRA in the DIFC and ADGM, including on matters that also touch India. Three of these frameworks were replaced in 2025–2026, so the starting point is always the current law.
The same activity can sit under very different rules.
Whether a business answers to the Central Bank, the CMA, VARA, the DFSA or the FSRA turns on where and how it operates — onshore or in a free zone, and in which activity. Getting that perimeter right at the outset decides the applicable law, the licence and the supervisor, and it is the question we are asked most often.
Onshore & federal
The Central Bank (banking, payments, insurance), the CMA (securities, formerly the SCA) and Dubai’s VARA (virtual assets) regulate activity in the wider UAE outside the financial free zones.
The financial free zones
The DIFC (regulated by the DFSA) and the ADGM (regulated by the FSRA) run their own common-law regimes for the firms established within them — distinct from the onshore regulators.
Cutting across both
The federal AML regime, sanctions and the goAML reporting channel apply across the whole country; data protection and virtual-asset rules track the centre a firm operates in.
From authorisation to enforcement defence.
Perimeter & licensing
Working out which regulator applies, and obtaining the right authorisation — onshore (CBUAE, CMA, VARA) or in the DIFC or ADGM.
AML & financial crime
Risk assessments, programmes, MLRO support, sanctions screening and goAML reporting under the federal AML law and the free-zone rulebooks.
Data protection
Compliance with the DIFC and ADGM data-protection laws, including for businesses processing data across the centres.
Virtual assets & fintech
Licensing and compliance under VARA, the CMA’s onshore regime, and the DFSA and FSRA virtual-asset frameworks.
Enforcement & investigations
Responding to DFSA, FSRA, CBUAE, CMA and VARA investigations, penalties and enforcement action, and to remediation directions.
Cross-border, India–UAE
Coordinating UAE regulatory work with the Indian dimension — cooperation between authorities, cross-border enforcement and asset tracing.
Our regulatory work is led from the firm’s Regulatory & Compliance team, working across India and the UAE.
UAE regulation, answered.
Who regulates financial services in the UAE?
What changed in UAE financial regulation in 2025–2026?
Onshore or free zone — which regime applies to me?
Does the UAE federal AML law apply in the DIFC and ADGM?
Can one team handle a regulatory matter that touches both the UAE and India?
Not sure which regime you are in?
Proactive compliance, investigations and penalty matters across the UAE’s regulators. A matter that also touches India is run as a single relationship across the corridor.
Licensing & compliance
Identify the right regulator and licence, and build a compliance programme — onshore (CBUAE, CMA, VARA) or in the DIFC or ADGM — before a problem arises.
Get compliant
Anti-money laundering
The federal AML regime across the whole UAE — obligations, supervisors, goAML reporting and the 2025 changes — and how the DIFC and ADGM rulebooks sit over it.
Understand AML
Contact us
We act for clients in both jurisdictions through offices in the UAE and India.