Fadel Al Ali, Chairman of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), said today that the DFSA continues to play a key role in building and maintaining the reputation of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) as a leading global financial centre and in supporting Dubai and the UAE as a beacon of economic opportunity.

In 2022, licensing and registration activity measured by the DFSA increased by 54%, and the total number of regulated entities increased by 9% year-on-year. The total number of licensed companies grew from 529 in 2021 to 588 in 2022, an increase of 11%. The DFSA has observed that the types of authorized companies have become more diverse, with more innovative companies registered through the DFSA's Money Services Regime and Innovation Test Licence (ITL) program.

As part of its efforts to maintain the integrity of the DIFC and protect financial services consumers, the DFSA took 10 enforcement actions and issued 15 fraud alerts in 2022.

In addition, the DFSA's Cyber Threat Intelligence Platform (DFSA TIP) shared 8,153 cyber incidents in 2022, including more than 2 million breach indicators. This intelligence was shared with more than 236 members connected to the platform.

Fadel Al Ali noted that as a forward-thinking and proactive regulator, the DFSA continues to respond to the rapidly changing financial services environment with more innovation, more assertiveness and greater adaptability.