There are two sources of regulatory laws in the UAE, the Central Bank Law no. 14 of 2018 and the ESCA law no. 4 of 2002. The main federal law for banking and financial services is Federal Law No. 14 of 2018 regarding the Central Bank and organization of Financial Institution and Activities, which replaced the old Law No. 10 of 1980 concerning the Central Bank, the Monetary System and Organization of Banking and the insurance industry. The SCA is governed by Federal Law No. 4 for the year 2000 concerning the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority and Market. The two regulators have issued a number of regulations applicable to the financial institutions that fall under their jurisdictions.

The CB is also supposed to issue a number of updated regulations pursuant to its new law, and it is now issuing a number of these regulations, such as the Stored Value Facility (SVF) and the Retail Payment System (RPS).

With regard to the DIFC, the DFSA issues rules and regulations that apply to the financial institutions that operate within the DIFC. The main laws governing financial institutions in the DIFC are the following:

• Regulatory Law 2004
• Markets Law 2012
• Law Regulating Islamic Financial Business 2004
• Trust Law 2005
• Collective Investment Law 2010
• Investment Trust Law 2006

In addition, the DFSA has published a number of regulations applicable to financial institutions incorporated within the DIFC.

The FSRA issued the Financial Services and Market Regulations, which were broadly modeled after the UKs Financial Services and Markets Act (2000) and other related legislation.