The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the independent banking, financial services and markets regulator of the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), has been ordered by the Financial Markets Tribunal (FMT) to compensate approximately USD 143,000 in external and internal legal costs following a reference to the DFSA Decision Notice dated 13 June 2024 by Al Rams Capital LLC.
This is the first case in which the DFSA has sought to recover internal legal costs in proceedings before FMT, with an award of all internal costs relating to Al Rams’ privacy application and 25 per cent of internal costs claimed for substantive reference.
This also reflects the extent to which the FMT accepted DFSA’s submission that Al Rams had acted unfairly in certain aspects of the reference. These include failing to narrow down the issue at an early stage, pursuing substantive arguments with little chance of success, and raising subjectivity arguments for suspicion of market abuse at a very late stage of reference rather than during the initial DFSA decision-making process.
Alan Linning, Managing Director of Enforcement at the DFSA, commented: “The DFSA fully supports the right of businesses and individuals to challenge enforcement decisions and apply for privacy where appropriate. However, this decision makes clear that if a party pursues an argument unreasonably or advances an argument that they should know is without merit, they may be required to pay the DFSA’s costs in addition to paying any financial penalties imposed.”
