Driving transparency, innovation, and compliance: the DFSA hosts Annual Outreach and releases 2024 Cyber Thematic Review

Dubai, UAE, 19 November 2024: The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the independent regulator of financial services conducted in and from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), today hosted its Annual Outreach session, drawing more than 500 participants from across the financial services sector. The event underscores the regulator's commitment to enhancing industry collaboration, innovation, and compliance.

As part of the Annual Outreach, the DFSA announced the publication of its 2024 Cyber Thematic Review, assessing the cybersecurity maturity and resilience of Firms operating in, and from, the DIFC. Aligned with the UAE and Dubai Cybersecurity strategies, this Review underscores the Authority's commitment to enhancing cybersecurity standards across the financial sector.

While the number of Authorised Firms has surged by 25% between 2022 and 2024, the Review revealed continuing improvement overall in Firms' cybersecurity maturity within DIFC. It examined progress made in Firms' cyber risk management programmes since the last DFSA's report in 2022 – highlighting emerging good practices, areas of improvement, and actionable recommendations for strengthening defences against evolving cyber threats. Key findings included:

• Governance: On average, 80-90% of Firms implemented the governance best practices to ensure accountability, transparency, and compliance mandated by the DFSA Rules
• Baseline best practices: Firms declared that, on average, they have implemented 90% of the fundamental best practices outlined in the Rules. These ensure the effective and secure operation of systems, software, and infrastructure.
• Resilience: Remains at approximately 80% given improvements in the implementation of resilience requirements which enable systems, networks, or infrastructure to continue to function despite disruptions, failures, or unforeseen events.

The DFSA's 2024 Annual Outreach also featured comprehensive updates from the DFSA's Policy, Enforcement, and Authorisation Divisions, providing attendees with insights into the latest regulatory developments, enforcement priorities, and licensing enhancements designed to streamline compliance processes. Additional Supervision focused sessions also took place, focusing on Innovation and Technology, Prudential, Conduct of Business, and Financial Crime Conduct. Discussions notably centred on fostering technological innovation while ensuring robust measures against financial crime, including anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.

Justin Baldacchino, Managing Director of Supervision at the DFSA, said: "Today's Annual Outreach has been a pivotal step in reinforcing trust, transparency, and collaboration within the financial sector. Cybersecurity is central to the DFSA's mission to protect the financial ecosystem within the DIFC, and the findings of our latest Review show encouraging progress, but they also highlight areas where firms must further strengthen their defences. I would like to thank all our industry participants who joined this year's Annual Outreach – together, we will continue to strengthen the future of finance with DIFC."