CMA Decision No. 27/R of 2014 · UAE Federal
Board regulation on brokerage in securities, amended several times and now listed by the CMA among superseded regulations.
Board Decision No. 27 of 2014 was the licensing and conduct code for securities brokerage companies on the UAE markets. Approved by the Securities and Commodities Authority's board on 25 June 2014 under Federal Law No. 4 of 2000, it took effect the day after publication in the Official Gazette (Article 34), repealed the Brokers Regulation of 2000 and gave existing brokers six months to comply (Article 33). Several items were later amended or deleted, as the asterisks in the CMA's text show. The Capital Market Authority now lists it among superseded regulations; it is a historical reference.
Article 2 required an annually renewed Authority licence and registration, and let the Authority shut unlicensed brokerage. Article 3 barred a broker from being a partner in another broker and capped a partner's stake in a second broker at 5%. Article 4 required a UAE company or a branch of a regulated foreign broker, an Arabic memorandum and paid-up capital of at least AED 3 million for a trading member or AED 30 million for a trading and clearing member, with net equity kept at 75% of paid-up capital. Article 6 gave the Authority 15 working days to decide, silence counting as refusal. Article 11 set minimum guarantees of AED 1 million and AED 20 million.
Articles 16 and 17 required internal by-laws within one month of licensing, segregated client accounts, monthly and quarterly reports, audited accounts within three months of year end and prior approval for changes to constitution, capital, shareholders and offices. Article 18 required a signed account-opening agreement before any order and barred blank signed orders. Article 32 set warnings, fines, suspension of up to one year and cancellation.
Brokerage companies and branches of foreign brokers licensed by the Securities and Commodities Authority to trade securities on UAE markets, their partners, directors and approved employees, and their clients, while the decision was in force; it no longer governs new licences.
English official text in 34 articles. Open the full text or jump to a provision:
| Article 2 | Brokerage requires an Authority licence renewed annually and entry in the register of brokerage companies; the Authority may suspend unlicensed brokerage and close its premises. |
| Article 3 | A brokerage company may not be a partner in another brokerage company, and a partner may not hold more than 5% of another brokerage company or sit on its board or management. |
| Article 4 | Applicant must be a UAE company or branch of a regulated foreign broker, with an Arabic memorandum and paid-up capital of at least AED 3 million (trading member) or AED 30 million (trading and clearing member), net equity at 75% of paid-up capital. |
| Article 6 | The Authority decides within 15 working days of a complete application; no decision counts as rejection, and a new application cannot be made for six months. |
| Article 11 | Guarantee in bank guarantee or cash of at least AED 1 million for a trading member, lodged with the Authority, and AED 20 million for a trading and clearing member, lodged with the market. |
| Article 17 | Broker must keep capital adequacy, file monthly, quarterly and annual reports, and obtain prior Authority approval to amend its constitution, change capital, partners, activities or offices, merge or advertise. |
| Article 18 | No client order before a signed account-opening agreement; orders recorded with key details; no blank signed orders; written notice of executed trades and quarterly statements; client confidentiality and no conflicts. |
| Article 32 | Market may suspend for up to five business days; the Authority may warn, fine up to the statutory maximum, suspend for up to one year or cancel the licence; approved employees face warning, two-month suspension or loss of approval. |
Article 32 allowed the market to suspend a broker for up to five business days and the Authority to warn, fine up to the maximum in the Law and its regulations, suspend for up to one year or cancel the licence, including where no activity started within three months of licensing. Approved employees faced warning, suspension of up to two months or loss of approval; Article 32 bis allows the names of violators to be published.
Securities brokerage is a licensed activity that Polaris does not carry on. We meet this decision when we review the corporate history of a group that held a brokerage licence before the current rulebook, or when a client's older account-opening agreements and powers of attorney with a UAE broker were drafted to Article 18. We note that the CMA lists it as superseded, explain that any brokerage activity now needs a licence under the CMA's current rules through the client's licensed adviser, and keep the entity's corporate records, shareholder approvals, UBO and AML files in order.
| Cites | Former SCA Law · Civil Transactions Law 1985 (repealed) |
“Cites” and “Cited by” are built automatically from references in the full texts held in this library; they cover only instruments in the library.
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