UAE Capital Market Authority Rewrites Regulations Following 18-Month Overhaul

The UAE's onshore financial markets regulator, the Capital Market Authority (CMA), has completely rewritten its governing laws and regulatory rules following an 18-month reform drive, The National reported from the Meira 2026 conference in Dubai.

CMA Director General Waleed Al Awadi, who took helm of the authority in February 2025, stated that the regulator aims to shift from being solely a supervisory watchdog into a "market engineer" dedicated to developing the national economy and financial sector. The initiative is designed to elevate the UAE's competitiveness against international financial centres such as London, New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

The CMA has agreed to harmonise regulatory approaches with the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and Abu Dhabi Global Market's Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). According to Al Awadi, the three authorities began alignment discussions approximately 18 months ago to establish common international standards across the UAE's mainland civil law and financial free zone common law jurisdictions.

The comprehensive rulebook revision follows the issuance of two UAE federal decree-laws in January that expanded the CMA's regulatory independence and modernised federal securities legislation. In April, the authority also enacted a regulatory framework governing virtual asset activities.