Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) ruled on 25 February that it has fined Enness Limited (Enness DIFC), a DIFC Representative Office, $105,000 (AED386,000) for unauthorised activity outside the scope of its representative office DFSA licence.
As a Representative Office, Enness DIFC is only permitted to carry out a narrow set of activities in the DIFC relating to the marketing of mortgage services offered by its head office based in the United Kingdom, the statement explained.
Bryan Stirewalt, chief executive of the DFSA, said: “This action demonstrates that the DFSA takes the failure by Representative Offices to act within the scope of their Licences seriously. We expect that all Representative Offices in the DIFC understand what they are authorised to do, and have controls in place that ensure they only engage in authorised activities.”
The DFSA’s investigation found that between November 2017 and January 2019, Enness DIFC arranged mortgages for its clients, and provided mortgage advice for its clients.
Enness DIFC was not authorised to engage in such activity, and in doing so acted outside the scope of its Representative Office Licence, in breach of the DFSA’s laws.
Enness DIFC fully cooperated with the investigation, the regulator said, and sought to obtain an appropriate DFSA Licence authorising it to carry on the wider Financial Service of Arranging Credit and Advising on Credit.
In addition, Enness DIFC also agreed to settle the DFSA’s action at an early stage of the investigation and, therefore, qualified for a discount under the DFSA’s policy for early settlement.
If the settlement discount had not been agreed, the DFSA said it would have imposed a fine of USD 150,000 (AED 551,000) on Enness DIFC.
