On 8 January 2015, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (Global Market), Abu Dhabi’s new financial free zone, located on Al Maryah Island, issued a first wave of draft regulations and related consultation papers. The Global Market’s general approach in the draft regulations follows very closely the English law model. In addition, at the same time the Global Market flagged that its initial key anchor sectors will be private banking, wealth management and asset management, which represents a much narrower focus than contemplated in the Global Market’s earlier press releases.

What draft regulations has the Global Market issued?

The Global Market has issued six draft regulations:

(i) Application of English Law Regulations: This is the most significant and most over-arching regulation for the Global Market.