Dr. Habib Al Mulla, DFSA Chairman today received Ed Balls, UK Member of Parliament and Economic Secretary to the Treasury, to discuss the further strengthening of cooperation in financial services between the UK and Dubai. The meeting was held in the offices of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), and discussions covered a wide range of subjects, including Islamic Finance, education and investor protection.
The rapid growth in Islamic Finance, one of the main business pillars in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), offered fertile ground for discussion.
In the field of education, the discussion centred on the DFSA initiative –‘Tomorrow’s Regulatory Leaders’, an extensive training and development program designed to create sustainable career opportunities for Emiratis in financial services regulation, and the recently launched Islamic Finance qualification, a joint effort between the UK and Lebanon.
Dr. Al Mulla and Mr. Balls also discussed the need to improve investor protection measures and the adoption of international best practice, including effective measures on transparency, disclosure and corporate governance.
Dr. Al Mulla commented: ‘It was a pleasure to receive Mr Balls and to discuss developments in the UK market and City of London; he is extremely interested in and knowledgeable on Islamic Finance.
“I believe that the tremendous interest in Islamic Finance has led to a range of initiatives in terms of international best practice, regulation, and education; we are always receptive to discuss ways in which we can cooperate with other financial centres.”
Dr. Al Mulla added: “Our regulatory framework is modelled on international best practice and draws on the strengths of international centres like London.”
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) is an independent, integrated regulatory authority responsible for the regulation of all financial and ancillary services conducted in or from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), including asset management, banking, securities trading, Islamic finance, re-insurance, and an international financial exchange. The DFSA has been created using principle-based primary legislation modelled closely on that used in London and New York, and the DFSA regulatory regime operates to standards that meet or exceed those applying in the world's major financial centres.
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) is a central component of the DIFC, a new financial centre established to position Dubai as a recognised hub for institutional finance, and the regional gateway for capital and investment to the Middle East.
Dr. Habib Al Mulla was appointed Chairman of the DFSA in June 2004. Dr. Al Mulla holds an LLB in Shari’a and law from the UAE University; LLM from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He is also the Managing Partner of Habib Al Mulla & Company, a leading law firm based in Dubai. Dr Al Mulla has been a Member of the UAE Federal National Council since 2002.
Ed Balls MP was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 5 May 2006. He has been a Member of Parliament for Normanton since 2005. Mr. Balls was born in 1967 and educated at Nottingham High School; Keble College, Oxford; and the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard.
Mr. Balls was a teaching fellow Department of Economics, Harvard 1989-90; and an Economics Leader writer and columnist for the Financial Times 1990-94. He was Economic Adviser to the then Shadow Chancellor Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP 1994-97; Secretary Labour Party Economic Policy Commission 1994-97; Economic Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer 1997-99; Chief Economic Adviser to the HM Treasury 1999-2004; and Research Fellow, Smith Institute 2004-05.
About Tomorrow’s Regulatory Leader’s (TRL) programme:
As part of its aspiration to develop a future generation of financial sector regulators from within this country, the DFSA designed the Tomorrow’s Regulatory Leader’s (TRL) programme. TRL is an extensive training and development program designed to create sustainable career opportunities for Emiratis in financial services regulation. TRL focuses on the transfer of knowledge and expertise from experienced international regulators to young Emiratis. The core features of TRL are intensive academic and practical training over a 2 year period, followed by long-term employment opportunities.
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) in February 2006.
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