Setting up
DFSA authorisation support
Regulatory Business Plan, compliance framework and application management
In short
We build and run DFSA applications: confirming the prudential category, writing the Regulatory Business Plan, drafting the compliance and AML frameworks, preparing the Authorised Individual applications and handling the regulator's questions through to Licence.
What you get
- Perimeter analysis and prudential category recommendation
- Regulatory Business Plan with three-year financial projections
- Compliance manual mapped to the applicable Rulebook modules
- AML and CTF policy and business risk assessment
- Authorised Individual applications and interview preparation
- Capital adequacy modelling covering base and expenditure based minimums
- Management of DFSA queries through to in-principle approval and Licence
Timeline: 3 to 6 months, longer for novel business models
The application is a single document set
Reviewers read the Regulatory Business Plan, the compliance manual, the AML policy and the financial model against each other. When the RBP describes a discretionary mandate and the compliance manual only covers advisory, the inconsistency is obvious and it costs a round of questions.
We write them as one set. The controls in the manual trace to the risks in the plan, and the cost base in the manual matches the model used for the expenditure based capital test.
Start the compliance hire early
The most common cause of a nine month application is a Compliance Officer who was not identified until after in-principle approval. The DFSA has to approve the individual, and finding someone with the right experience who is willing to relocate takes months. We flag this at the first meeting and we mean it.
Questions
Can you act as our outsourced compliance officer after authorisation?
We arrange outsourced compliance and MLRO support through DFSA-experienced practitioners. The firm and its Authorised Individuals retain accountability, and the arrangement is documented so the regulator can see who does what.
What if the DFSA questions our business model?
It happens, and it is better than a refusal. We work through the queries with you and, where the model genuinely does not fit the category, we say so and reframe rather than defending a position the regulator has already rejected.
Not sure which DIFC licence you need?
Answer eight questions and we will tell you the licence route, the likely cost and the realistic timeline. It takes about two minutes and there is no obligation.