UAE central bank bans structured retail products

ABU DHABI - The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has surprised industry participants by clamping down on the sale of structured products to retail clients, disclosing new rules in a statement issued to banks on August 2.

In the statement, the Bank said it "has decided that it is not desirable that banks operating in the UAE sell structured products to their retail customers, which include high-net-worth individuals."

The Bank defines a structured product as a "pre-packaged investment strategy that has embedded options related to a single security/stocks, a basket of securities, indexes, commodities, debt, credit and or/foreign currencies".

If a bank wants to sell structured products to its customers, it is now obliged to submit a written request to the Bank outlining relevant details and the rationale for an exemption from the new rule.

The move is understood to have come out of the blue for industry participants, who are now said to be in discussions with the Bank regarding clarification of the rule.


Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.

To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact customer services - www.fx-markets.com/static/contact-us, or view our subscription options here: https://subscriptions.fx-markets.com/subscribe

You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@fx-markets.com to find out more.

You need to sign in to use this feature. If you don’t have a FX Markets account, please register for a trial.

Sign in
You are currently on corporate access.

To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in.

Sign in.

Alternatively you can request an indvidual account here: