Her comments come less than week after the the main regulator of life companies in the UAE announced it is pushing ahead with tighter rules for financial advisers, which require them to be licensed by the Insurance Authority.
Offshore ‘stigma’
Guardian’s Howell said the “offshore world has still got stigma attached to it” despite qualifications now being a “pre-requisite” for financial advisers in the Middle East.
“I don’t think regulators in certain countries will drive that, it has to be down to the firms to change the marketplace,” he said.
Sam Instone, chief executive of AES International, a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated advice firm with offices in Dubai and Europe, said it was using its UK CII chartered status to push standards in financial advice in the Middle East.
“We are UK chartered business and we opened a branch of our firm in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC), where it is a fairly small community and very highly regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
“Part of the big opportunity for UK advisers and UK firms is to take what we know about UK standards as flag bearers for professional development and put that into the international market.
“We think getting a Level 4 qualification should be a minimum and most advisers should be striving for chartered status.”
