The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (“FSRA”) is responsible for the regulation of financial services in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and for the regulation of related activities.
The Senior Legal Counsel will be part of the Legal team within the Policy & Legal Division of the FSRA. This Division is responsible for:
- Legal advisory services - in order to enable other Divisions of the FSRA to achieve the objectives of the FSRA (e.g., Authorisation, Supervision, Enforcement, International etc.) and ADGM:
- Legislative services - identify and implement policy initiatives relevant to the development of the financial services legal framework of ADGM in line with international standards set by bodies including BCBS, IOSCO, IAIS, FSB and FATF.
- Litigation services – support supervisory and enforcement matters including any administrative, tribunal and court matters.
The Policy & Legal Division also provides support to other ADGM authorities and ADGM by:
- working closely with the Registration Authority Policy & Legal team that is responsible for the development of the commercial legal framework of ADGM;
- preparing relevant Board Papers and legislative changes and engaging with the ADGM Office of Legal Affairs, Governance and Compliance;
- reviewing and providing feedback to legislation proposed by other local and federal regulatory and government authorities including the CBUAE and the CMA and various Ministries;
- participating in any working groups and committees with other local and federal regulatory and government authorities, including international assessments of the UAE undertaken by the OECD, FATF and the IMF/World bank;
- supporting the growth and development of key sectors of ADGM through policy and legislative initiatives, including:
- Asset Management;
- Fintech and Regtech/Suptech;
- Private Banking and Wealth Management;
- Market Infrastructure and Digital Assets;
- Sustainable Finance; and
- Insurance and reinsurance.
While the Senior Legal Counsel will provide legal services on a range of matters across the financial services sector, the FSRA is seeking individuals who also have relevant commercial experience and, ideally, experience in legislative drafting. Experience of analysing legal aspects of emerging financial technologies (“FinTech”), including digital assets, smart contracts, decentralised applications and artificial intelligence is desirable, but not essential.
Core responsibilities
Assisting the Director – Legal (Financial) in ensuring that the Policy & Legal Division provides the FSRA with timely, high quality, consistent legal services to enable other Divisions to achieve the objectives of the FSRA and ADGM including:
- Conducting in-depth legal research and analysis in response to legal or policy queries and interpretation requests from internal and external stakeholders.
- Applying relevant technical knowledge to provide sound legal advice to the operational departments of the FSRA, including Authorisation, FinTech, Supervision, Markets, Financial Crime, Enforcement and International Affairs.
- Drafting and reviewing legal documents, including legislation, consultation papers, notices, correspondence and agreements.
- Managing legal projects and external outsourced legal resources.
- Managing litigation for the FSRA including administrative appeals and court matters.
- Managing the legislative drafting process for enhancements to the current FSRA legislative framework, new legislative initiatives and other associated legislation and legal instruments where relevant to the FSRA and the broader ADGM.
- Monitoring and seeking to improve the internal processes and procedures of the Policy & Legal Division.
- Raising awareness of relevant legal and regulatory developments in financial services of relevance to ADGM.
- Manage relationships with external stakeholders, including other UAE regulators, international regulators and standard-setting bodies, market participants and any other relevant stakeholders.
- Where appropriate, support senior management’s participation in domestic and international forums with regulatory bodies, ministries and committees regarding policy and legislative matters relating to financial services and financial services regulation.
Managerial responsibilities
- Support the Director – Legal (Financial) in the overall management of the FSRA Legal team with accountability for achieving overall agreed objectives.
- Line management of junior colleagues, including allocating and reviewing work.
- Create an environment where team members feel empowered and consistently drive to improve performance.
- Responsibility for mentoring high potential and most critical talent in their career progression.
- Review performance of team members and addresses performance issues quickly through clear decisions.
- Demonstrates behaviours and actions consistent with ADGM’s competency framework for the role including accountability, agility, collaboration, communication, innovation, integrity and trust, leadership and problem solving.
- Actively participates and contributes to FSRA senior management, FSRA and ADGM Corporate KPIs and ‘One AGDM’ initiatives.
Education & professional qualifications
- Bachelor’s / Master’s Degree
- Admitted as a barrister or solicitor in a well-recognised common law jurisdiction.
Work Experience
Essential
- At least 10-12+ years’ post admission experience, ideally for a financial services regulator or an entity that is supervised by an internationally recognised financial services regulator.
- Excellent knowledge, skills and experience in legal and policy matters pertaining to financial services and commercial laws in a leading financial services jurisdiction.
- Expertise in providing focused and pragmatic legal advice on technical financial services-related matters.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills, including ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing with others at all levels of the FSRA and other ADGM bodies, with particular strength in written communications and legal drafting.
- Strong leadership skills with experience of managing direct reports.
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain excellent relationships within the FSRA’s Policy & Legal Division, as well as across the FSRA, other ADGM bodies and with financial services firms and their advisors.
- Ability to work independently with little or no supervision.
Desirable
- Specialised knowledge of regulations for asset management, private wealth, or wealth management as well as regulatory matters pertaining to Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism financing.
- Understanding of emerging enabling technologies (e.g., digital assets, distribution ledger technology, smart contracts, decentralised technology, artificial intelligence etc.) and their impacts on financial markets.
- Experience in contentious matters, regulatory investigations and financial services-related litigation.
- Policy and legislative drafting experience.
- Understanding of Arabic and the Arabic culture.
The FSRA was established to advocate a progressive financial services environment and uphold the integrity of ADGM. The FSRA’s policies are aligned with internationally recognised standards and ensure that financial entities operate with certainty, market participants thrive in an equal level-playing environment, and the interests of investors are safeguarded.
