DFSA hosts 2025 Annual Outreach for over 500 industry leaders addressing governance, AI oversight, and compliance as the DIFC’s financial services ecosystem continues to grow and expand

DIFC’s financial services ecosystem

The DFSA Annual Outreach aims to enhance transparency, improve understanding of regulatory requirements, and support financial services organisations in meeting evolving compliance standards; underscoring a shared commitment to protecting investors and maintaining the integrity of the financial system. The event is being held as the DIFC continues its momentum as the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia’s leading financial centre, now
regulating more than 1,000 entities, and with assets of approximately USD 240 billion, in the Banking
sector alone.

Justin Baldacchino, Managing Director, Supervision, at the DFSA, said: “The DFSA Annual Outreach is central to our mission to build trust and resilience in the DIFC financial system. By engaging directly with our regulated entities and the wider regional and global community, we ensure that our supervision policies have a meaningful impact in achieving strong and sustainable growth. This year’s session addresses the critical challenges facing our regulated community: ensuring that systems, controls, and governance evolve in step with unprecedented growth across the Centre.”

The session provided comprehensive updates on the DFSA’s five supervision focus areas – Prudential,
Conduct of Business, Financial Crime Conduct, Innovation & Technology Risk, and Audit & Infrastructure
– alongside key updates on Enforcement, Policy, Authorisation, and Markets. Topics ranged from auditor appointment protocols to financial crime controls, cyber risk security measures, and innovation in the fintech ecosystem, emphasising the DFSA's risk-based, proportionate supervisory approach that supports controlled and sustainable growth aligned with the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.

Findings from the DFSA's thematic reviews published this year were notably covered at the outreach, examining high-growth firms, fund management self-custody, and other critical areas. A central theme emerged: while the DIFC continues to attract significant business expansion, compliance frameworks and oversight mechanisms must be strengthened to match this growth.

Key findings shared with regulated entities included:
 Proactive compliance resourcing: Firms should integrate compliance hiring into growth planning
Rather than taking reactive approaches, ensure adequate resources for the scale and complexity of
operations.
 Enhanced Board oversight: Growth strategies require robust Board-level discussion, challenge, and
documentation of associated risks and mitigation plans.

 Self-custody controls: Fund managers using self-custody arrangements should implement
comprehensive written policies, conflicts of interest management, and compliance monitoring.
 Artificial intelligence (AI) governance: With AI adoption accelerating rapidly across firms –
including a near-tripling of Generative AI use in the past year – some firms still lack oversight
mechanisms are calling for more clarity and guidance on AI governance, ethical use cases, and
supervisory expectations.

The DFSA Annual Outreach is part of the regulator’s broader efforts to promote sustainable growth that
aligns with the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 and to further strengthen the emirate’s position as a global
financial centre. Dubai has steadily cemented its ranking as the region’s most credible financial centre,
ranking 11th on the Global Financial Centre Index and among the top four global fintech hubs.

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