The Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA) and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) entered into an MOU today to enhance cooperation and to foster financial innovation, thus meeting the needs of UAE-based capital markets. The MOU was signed by H.E. Dr. Obaid Saif Al Zaabi, Acting CEO of SCA, and Richard Teng, CEO of ADGM’s FSRA, on the sidelines of the Fintech Abu Dhabi Summit.
This partnership was formed following close discussions and continuous coordination between the two parties to support the country’s economic development and push up its growth levels.
The MOU provides a framework for SCA and FSRA to exchange and share information pertinent to innovation, regulatory approaches to financial innovation, and economic and commercial developments that impact their jurisdictions. It enables the two sides to support and facilitate financial and fintech-related activities with a view to serving the UAE financial services industry.
Following the signing of the MOU, Dr. Al Zaabi said:
It is our great pleasure to sign this MOU today with FSRA to sustain our cooperation over the past four years. Being fully committed to set high-level regulatory standards, ADGM and FSRA made ongoing achievements during that period, thus contributing to maintaining fair, efficient, and responsible markets, in line with the best international standards.
Dr. Al Zaabi indicated that
SCA is seeking to keep open communication channels with its financial industry partners, especially those concerned with fintech development, and to understand their needs. This comes as part of its role to create a favorable regulatory environment, one that facilitates the development of innovative products and services to enhance the efficiency of securities market officials and to improve market performance.
In this context, SCA is launching initiatives that will serve to create a ready, safe, cost-effective, and resilient technical infrastructure and to bring that infrastructure in line with modern technology before making it available to investors and market participants. It will simultaneously provide regulatory support and advice for fintech companies to ensure the protection of investor rights.
It is worth mentioning that as part of its ecosystem-building commitment, ADGM has formed strategic partnerships with fintech leaders in the MENA region to establish new initiatives and is working closely with local and global stakeholders to foster an open and inclusive global fintech hub aimed at serving Abu Dhabi and the greater MENA region.