The United Arab Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA) in Abu Dhabi has granted Apex Fund Services a licence to provide fund administration services under the authority’s new regulations.
The new regulations set out requirements for creating and distributing UAE domestic funds. It also transfers regulatory supervision responsibility from the UAE central bank to ESCA.
Each local fund is now required to appoint an investment manager, an administrative services company, a custodian and an external auditor. Apex is the first administrator in the region to receive a licence under the new regulations.
A statement said that the firm is in a unique position of being able to continue servicing existing onshore UAE funds while also offering approved managers with newly-domiciled funds the same high levels of service from locally based teams with a strong understanding of the revised Abu Dhabi regulatory system.
Robert Grindlay, managing director of Apex Fund Services in the UAE, said: “As global liquidity issues continue to ease, interest in onshore UAE funds is building and the ESCA is to be commended for its rapid introduction of strong governance which bring improved transparency and protection to investors.”
