ADGM Brokerage
Licensing (FSRA)

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) is the independent regulator of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), a financial free zone where English common law applies directly and disputes are heard by the independent ADGM Courts. Any firm conducting regulated financial services in or from ADGM must obtain a Financial Services Permission (FSP) covering its specific Regulated Activities.

Relevant Regulated Activities include dealing in investments as principal or as agent, arranging deals, managing assets and advising. These map to prudential categories: Category 2 for own-account dealing; Category 3A for matched-principal dealing and/or dealing as agent (the classic brokerage category); Category 3C for managing assets; and Category 4 for arranging and advising.

Following the FSRA's prudential reform (effective August 2025), base capital is approximately: Category 2 US$2,000,000; Category 3A US$500,000 (rising to US$2,000,000 for matched-principal dealing in OTC leveraged products for retail clients); Category 3C US$250,000 base; and Category 4 US$50,000. As with the DFSA, a firm holds the higher of base capital, an expenditure-based minimum and any risk-based requirement.

An ADGM firm needs a genuine physical office within ADGM and must appoint FSRA-approved individuals to controlled functions: a Senior Executive Officer (SEO), Finance Officer, Compliance Officer and MLRO. The SEO, Compliance Officer and MLRO must be UAE-resident (Compliance Officer and MLRO may be the same person), and key holders are interviewed by the FSRA.

From a complete application to in-principle approval typically takes around six to ten weeks (complex cases two to three months), after which the firm has up to about three months to incorporate, lease office space, deposit capital and onboard personnel. End to end, the process is commonly cited at roughly three to six months.

ADGM applies English common law directly and is widely regarded as innovation-friendly, particularly for fintech and virtual assets (it launched a comprehensive virtual-asset framework in 2018). It is often lower-cost than the DIFC while offering the same common-law certainty and independent courts. Choose ADGM for a flexible, cost-effective common-law base, especially for digital-asset or fintech-driven brokerage.