The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has published a Thematic Review report examining how Authorised Firms in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) identify, manage, and mitigate conflicts of interest risk. The Review assessed 710 Firms across various sectors and business models, providing a comprehensive view of current practices across the Centre.
With the continued growth and development of financial services activities in DIFC, the DFSA considers it imperative to assess how effectively Firms are managing conflicts of interest in practice. This Review forms part of the DFSA’s broader supervisory work to uphold best practices, foster market confidence, and ensure that Firms maintain robust systems and controls to protect clients’ interests.
The Review highlights several good practices observed within the industry, as well as areas requiring improvement.
The DFSA expects Authorised Firms to review the findings and ensure their systems and controls on conflicts of interest are sufficiently robust, appropriately documented, and proportionate to the nature, scale, and complexity of their business.
The Thematic Review report on Conflicts of Interest is available here.
