The financial services sector is gearing up for the "regulatory tsunami" that is due to hit the Middle East’s after sweeping across Europe.
Banks and regulators from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) met last month in Dubai at an event hosted by management and technology consultancy BearingPoint to discuss the impacts and implementations of Basel II, Basel III and FATCA, and to share implementation experience from Europe.
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Robert Wagner, partner and firm-wide Financial Services leader at BearingPoint, said: "Regulatory compliance and prudential reporting have become a critical success factor for financial institutions globally. Banks in the UAE and the gulf region will face increasing requirements from international regulatory standards."
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) will be adopted soon in the UAE and the local adaption of Basel III is emerging and financial institutions need to react quickly. Short implementation deadlines and the complexity of these regulations require investments in technology as well as in processes.
Robert Wagner added: "Banks in Europe are somewhat ahead in time with the implementation of proven technology solutions in the fields of regulatory and tax compliance, however, the UAE are not that far behind."
Given this, solutions and best practices from Europe could be easily adapted in the UAE to enable an efficient application of the new standards.
