UAE regulatory authorities jointly issue ‘Guidelines for Financial Institutions Adopting Enabling Technologies’

UAE regulatory authorities jointly issue ‘Guidelines for Financial Institutions Adopting Enabling Technologies’

ABU DHABI, 15th November, 2021 (WAM) -- The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) (the Regulators) have jointly issued "Guidelines for Financial Institutions Adopting Enabling Technologies".

The Guidelines, published Monday, set out cross-sectoral principles and best practices for financial institutions when adopting enabling technologies for the development or offering of innovative products and services. The enabling technologies include Application Programming Interfaces; Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence; Biometrics; Cloud Computing; and Distributed Ledger Technology.

The objectives of these Guidelines are to promote the safe and sound adoption of these technologies by financial institutions across the UAE, so that the risks arising from the adoption of innovative activities are proactively and appropriately managed.

The issuance of the final Guidelines follows a public consultation launched in June 2021. In finalising the Guidelines, the Regulators have considered international standards, industry best practices and the valuable feedback received from market participants during the public consultation.

The Guidelines will apply to all financial institutions that are licenced and supervised by any of the Regulators and