CMA Decision No. 32/Chairman of 2018 · UAE Federal
Sets the technical service fees payable to the Authority for licensing, registration and other services, in an annexed fee table amended many times since 2018.
Decision No. 32/Chairman of 2018 is the CMA's technical service fee schedule: the table of what the Authority charges to consider applications, grant and renew licences, registrations and accreditations, approve corporate changes, and collect commissions on trading. The decision itself has three articles. Article 1 authorises collection of the fees in the attached table, Article 2 repeals conflicting provisions, and Article 3 brings it into force the day after Official Gazette publication (issued 8 October 2018; the index records 1 November 2018). The table has been amended at least 14 times; the most recent amendment in the index, Decision No. 18/Chairman of 2026, took effect on 1 September 2026. The consolidated copy we read reflects amendments to May 2025, so figures should be checked against the 2026 changes.
The licensing part of the table charges, for each activity, an application fee, a licence fee, an annual renewal fee and a cancellation fee. Examples: trading broker and financial consultations AED 1,000 / 5,000 / 2,500 / 1,000; portfolio management AED 5,000 / 75,000 / 50,000 / 1,000; investment fund management AED 5,000 / 35,000 / 25,000 / 1,000; custodian AED 3,000 / 500,000 / 250,000 / 1,000; OTC derivatives and spot forex broker AED 5,000 / 300,000 / 300,000 / 1,000; crowdfunding platform operator AED 5,000 / 20,000 / 20,000 / 1,000; family business management AED 3,000 / 20,000 / 10,000 / 1,000; employee accreditation AED 1,000 and AED 500 on renewal. Corporate approvals for licensed companies are mostly AED 3,000, including changes of partners or ownership ratios, mergers and acquisitions, and changes of address.
The table also prices registrations for listing (company listings from AED 12,000 to AED 40,000 by share capital; bonds and sukuk at 0.01% of issue value capped at AED 30,000; foreign fund units for promotion AED 2,000 / 10,000 / 5,000 / 1,000), trading commissions (0.0005 on share trades with a minimum of AED 5), and other services: complaints AED 500, grievances AED 1,000 for licensed persons and AED 500 for investors, exemption requests AED 5,000 per provision up to AED 30,000. Finfluencer registration (AED 5,000, renewal AED 2,500) is waived for three years from 30 May 2025.
Status: in force as amended. It sits alongside the Cabinet's fee resolution for SCA services (Cabinet Resolution No. 21 of 2017).
Applicants for and holders of CMA licences, registrations and accreditations; licensed companies seeking corporate approvals; issuers registering securities or fund units for listing or promotion; markets and clearing houses; investors filing complaints or grievances; and parties trading on UAE markets.
English official text in 3 articles. Open the full text or jump to a provision:
| Article 1 | The Authority collects the fees in the attached table for technical services provided under Federal Law No. 4 of 2000 and the decisions issued under it. |
| Article 2 | Any provision in another decision that conflicts with or is inconsistent with this decision is repealed. |
| Article 3 | Published in the Official Gazette and in force from the day after publication. |
| Annex | Licensing table: application, licence, annual renewal and cancellation fees for each activity, e.g. portfolio management AED 5,000 / 75,000 / 50,000 / 1,000 and custodian AED 3,000 / 500,000 / 250,000 / 1,000. |
| Annex | Corporate approvals for licensed companies: AED 3,000 each for branch opening, merger or acquisition, change of address and change of partners or ownership ratios; AED 5,000 for amending constitutional documents. |
| Annex | Listing and offering registrations: company listing AED 12,000 to AED 40,000 by share capital; bonds and sukuk 0.01% of issue value capped at AED 30,000; foreign fund units for promotion AED 10,000 with AED 5,000 renewal. |
| Annex | Trading commissions: 0.0005 on share trades with a minimum of AED 5, tiered bond rates, per-contract fils on DGCX contracts, and 0.0005 on international market and crypto asset trades. |
| Annex | Other services: complaints AED 500; grievances AED 1,000 (licensed persons) or AED 500 (investors); arbitration fees; exemption requests AED 5,000 per provision up to AED 30,000; finfluencer fees waived for three years from 30 May 2025. |
This is the table we use when we budget a CMA-licensed set-up or a change to an existing licensed company. Government fees vary by a factor of a hundred between activities, so an early fee estimate per activity often changes which licence a client applies for. Ownership changes, new branches and constitutional amendments each carry their own approval fee and must be costed into transaction timetables. We are not licensed by the CMA; we prepare the fee estimate from the current table, check it against the latest amending decision, and coordinate payment and filing with the client's licensed compliance adviser and the CMA portal.
| Amended by | CMA Decision No. 24/Chairman of 2020; CMA Decision No. 26/Chairman of 2020; CMA Decision No. 19/Chairman of 2021; CMA Decision No. 3/Chairman of 2023; CMA Decision No. 25/Chairman of 2021; CMA Decision No. 17/Chairman of 2023; CMA Decision No. 29/Chairman of 2023; CMA Decision No. 15/Chairman of 2024; CMA Decision No. 3/Chairman of 2021; CMA Decision No. 12/Chairman of 2022; CMA Decision No. 34/Chairman of 2023; CMA Decision No. 31/Chairman of 2024; CMA Decision No. 18/Chairman of 2026; CMA Decision No. 11/Chairman of 2021 |
| Cites | Former SCA Law |
“Cites” and “Cited by” are built automatically from references in the full texts held in this library; they cover only instruments in the library.
SCA Service Fees (Cabinet Resolution 21/2017)
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Amendment 18/Chairman of 2026 to CMA Technical Service Fees
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Amendment 3/Chairman of 2023 to CMA Technical Service Fees
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Amendment 19/Chairman of 2021 to CMA Technical Service Fees
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