Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) said it has won the first contested case before regulatory appeals committee (RAC) in connection with the withdrawal of licences of an UAE-based asset management firm.

DFSA is the independent financial services regulator of Dubai International Financial Centre.

The case was that DFSA had withdrawn the licences and authorisations of the UAE firm Capital Investment International (CII) and also the authorised individual status of its licensed directors Husam Al Ameri and Odhaid Al Mansouri.

The DFSA in its appeal said it had taken the decision to withdraw the company's licence after it found that Al Ameri and Al Mansouri were no longer fit and proper to provide financial services in the DIFC. But, the decision was subject to appeal.

Finally on June 26 last year the licences and authorisations of CII and the directors were originally withdrawn following a hearing before a DFSA decision maker.

However, the CII and the directors contested the decision and on August 25 they presented an appeal to the RAC. The appeals were jointly heard by the RAC at a hearing on November 28 which was held in private subject to a confidentiality order.

In its appeal, DFSA said the CII had not been permitted to transact any investment business since June 2011 and also that none of its clients had suffered any loss as a result of the CII’s contraventions.

On January 18, 2012 the committee notified both the parties in confidence of its decisions in respect of the appeals.

Giving its final verdict, the RAC unanimously upheld the DFSA’s decisions to withdraw the licenses and authorisations of CII, and the authorised individual status of the directors.

In essence the decision found that there had been failure on the part of all three appellants in complying with a number of DFSA requirements including, in the case of CII, the obligation to have systems and controls and effective compliance arrangements; and, in the case of the directors, the requirement to act with due skill, care and diligence, said the DFSA statement.

The RAC made a further order requiring those decisions to be placed on the DFSA website.-TradeArabia News Service