Complaints

The FSRA receives and assesses regulatory complaints concerning potential contraventions of the Regulations and Rules that the FSRA administers, potential misconduct by any person or entities that it regulates, or any conduct that may prevent the FSRA from meeting its objectives, including any activities that may cause damage to the reputation of the ADGM.

The FSRA has jurisdiction to deal with complaints concerning:

• Potential misconduct related to the provision of financial services in the ADGM;
• Conduct that may constitute a contravention of legislation administered by the FSRA; or
• Conduct that causes or may cause damage to the reputation of the ADGM or the integrity of the financial services industry in the ADGM.

The FSRA can only receive and assess complaints that fall within the FSRA’s jurisdiction.

The FSRA may not be able to assist you directly if your complaint:

• Does not relate to the provision of financial services in the ADGM;
• Does not involve conduct that may constitute a contravention of legislation administered by the FSRA; or
• Does not concern conduct that causes or may cause damage to the reputation of the ADGM or the integrity of the financial services industry in the ADGM.

If your complaint concerns potential contraventions of ADGM’s commercial legislation (that comprises the Regulations and Rules not concerning the provision of financial services in ADGM) or potential misconduct by non-financial businesses registered in ADGM, then you may wish to submit a complaint to the ADGM Registration Authority (RA) via its Complaints Form, available here.

The regulation of financial services in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) outside of the ADGM falls within the jurisdiction of:

• The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), for firms providing banking or insurance services.
• The Securities and Commodities Authority of the UAE (SCA), for firms offering securities and conducting brokerage business.

Accordingly, if your complaint concerns the provision of financial services in the United Arab Emirates outside of the ADGM, you may wish to forward your concerns to the relevant authority for their consideration.

In addition, in relation to matters which may involve criminal misconduct, you may also wish to consider contacting the law enforcement agency of the relevant Emirate within the UAE, including Abu Dhabi Police in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

FSRA regulated Authorised Persons are required to have in place processes to receive and respond to complaints. These requirements are designed to help customers of FSRA regulated Authorised Persons resolve disputes by dealing with the Authorised Person directly.

Before submitting a complaint to the FSRA, customers of FSRA regulated Authorised Persons should try contacting the Authorised Person directly in the first instance. This can often lead to a swift and efficient resolution of the dispute.

A person wishing to lodge a complaint with the FSRA directly should complete and submit the FSRA Complaints Form.

The FSRA will only consider complaints submitted in writing. To enable the FSRA to assess your complaint as efficiently as possible, you should include:

• Your details, including your name, address, telephone number and email address;
• Details of the subject of your complaint, including the name, address, and (if your complaint concerns a firm) the name and contact details of the individual you dealt with; and
• Details of your complaint, which we recommend you set out in chronological order, including times and dates where relevant.

You should attach any documents you have received, or which may be relevant to your complaint. If you have written to the subject of your complaint previously, please attach a copy of your communication as well as any response you have received from the person or entity.

All complaints submitted to us are held in confidence in accordance with the confidentiality requirements of the Financial Services and Markets Regulations 2015. However, in order to assess a complaint properly, we may need to speak to third parties including other regulated authorities or the subject of the complaint. We will seek your consent before disclosing your identity to the subject of the complaint, as appropriate. Further information on how the FSRA handles confidential information can be found in the FSRA’s Confidentiality Policy, which can be accessed by clicking here.

If you have been contacted by a firm or individual that purports to be authorised by the FSRA, or operating in the ADGM but does not appear to be so, you should:

• Check the FSRA’s public register to independently confirm whether the firm is, in fact, authorised by the FSRA;
• Cease to deal with the entity; and
• Make a complaint to the FSRA by filling out the FSRA Complaints Form.

A list of regulated financial services firms in the ADGM is available on the FSRA's public register which can be accessed by clicking here.

Upon receipt of your complaint, the FSRA will:

• Provide a written acknowledgement of your complaint;
• Conduct a thorough assessment of your complaint to determine the most appropriate regulatory action, if any, to be taken; and
• Provide you a written final response to your complaint.

The FSRA’s assessment of your complaint, may involve:

• Requesting further information or documents from you;
• Liaising internally with specialists within the FSRA;
• Contacting the subject of your complaint, where necessary and appropriate, or other persons who may have information relevant to the matter; and/or
• Contacting other regulatory authorities.

All complaints submitted to us are held in confidence in accordance with the confidentiality requirements of the Financial Services and Markets Regulations 2015. However, in order to assess a complaint properly, we may need to speak to third parties including other regulatory authorities or the subject of the complaint. We will seek your consent before disclosing your identity to the subject of the complaint, as appropriate. Further information on how the FSRA handles confidential information can be found in the FSRA’s Confidentiality Policy, which can be accessed by clicking here.

The FSRA endeavors to complete assessments within twenty eight (28) days of receipt of your complaint. However, some complaint assessments may take longer, depending on the nature and complexity of the complaint.

The FSRA will provide each complainant with a final response when the assessment of the complaint has been completed.

A person wishing to lodge a Whistleblowing Report with the FSRA should also complete and submit the FSRA Complaints Form.

Any information that you share with us will be stored securely and we limit access to this information. Whilst it is not mandatory for you to submit your contact details (name, address, email address for example) it would be helpful to have your contact details because there are times when we may need to ask you more questions or follow up on the information you have provided. Nevertheless, we will accept and process your information if you prefer to remain anonymous.

Additionally, we can arrange to meet with you to discuss your concerns in person, but we will need some information before meeting with you.

If you choose to disclose your identity, your details will be held in confidence.

We will process any reports made anonymously in accordance with our complaints handling procedures. An acknowledgement of receipt will be provided to an anonymous complainant who has given us valid contact information, but no further information will be given thereafter.

Further information on how the FSRA handles Whistleblowing Reports can be found in the Whistleblower Protection Regulations 2024.