Corporate Services

The UAE is a civil law country, where rules on forced heirship can apply. It is therefore important that UAE assets are held in ways that meet your personal objectives on succession.

Many clients will opt to own assets through an SPV (special purpose vehicle) or a foundation to secure the succession outcomes they want. An SPV can help you to ring-fence assets from personal financial and legal risk. A foundation can also provide asset protection for your family and future generations.

The UAE allows foundations and SPVs to be established in the DIFC, ADGM and RAK Free Zones, with each jurisdiction offering different benefits.

Our team take time to understand each client’s circumstances and objectives, before proposing a way forward. We then provide full support in establishing the chosen vehicle for its ongoing management. We can also act as a council member for your foundation.

In the UAE, there are certain business activities that require additional approval and licensing. These businesses activities are subject to heightened regulatory requirements and monitoring to ensure legal compliance and integrity within the industry.

The appropriate jurisdiction for a regulated entity will depend on the nature of the business and its activities. The UAE offers a wealth of specialised jurisdictions in both the Mainland and Free Zone. These include the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), and Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) free zones, which are key jurisdictions for financial and professional services in the fintech and digital asset sectors.

This depends on the regulator, its available resources, its balance between risk-based and administrative requirements, but most crucially – the completeness and thoroughness of an application for authorisation, whilst also taking into account the nature, scale and complexity of a firm’s business, structure and operations.

This is where Sanctuary will add significant value – our role is to help clients to submit high-quality applications that satisfy and anticipate likely questions, articulating your businesses in a manner that is consistent with how each individual regulator defines their requirements, and in doing so ensure that firms “get it right first time” and in the shortest possible time.

This is really a question of the risk profile of a firm - both in terms of its operations (to make sure it meets its capital requirements at all times) and any assets it may hold and control on behalf of its clients.

Broadly speaking, the higher the risk-profile and exposure (such as counterparty risk, or market risk, and including risks to customers in relation to their relevant experience, understanding and net worth), the higher the firm’s capital requirements will generally be.

Sanctuary can help you navigate the impact of conducting various activities and how this translates into regulatory capital and reporting requirements. We will guide you in optimising the capital required by defining your core-activities and balancing initial start-up plans and the capital required with longer-term plans to reflect how your business develops, grows and becomes more established.