Asset managers show keener interest in #UAE funds market | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Asset managers show keener interest in UAE funds market | ZAWYA MENA Edition:

Asset managers are gearing up for growth ahead of new rules from the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) and the Insurance Authority (IA) that could change the investment landscape in the UAE.

The IA has signalled it will launch new rules impacting the sale of life insurance investment products, such as commission caps, cooling off periods, and transparency around fees. A third draft of the new rules was released on January 31. It comes following numerous complaints from investors about issues including onerous fees, inflexible contracts with high redemption penalties, fund churn to generate additional commission fees for advisors, and investors buying products they don’t properly understand from advisors who don’t have their best interests at heart. 

But there’s expectation that the SCA will also announce that independent financial advisors (IFAs) will have to be licensed by the security authority and be compliant with SCA rules, and will only be able to wrap SCA-registered funds into life insurance products sold, Patrick Oerer, the chief executive officer of Emirates Wealth, a mutual funds distribution platform, said in a phone interview last week. A statement on the regulator’s website earlier this month said it was “studying regulating the transfer of jurisdiction over financial and monetary intermediaries”. The study is being undertaken alongside the UAE Central Bank, it added.