To ensure efficiency in the working of FinTech firms engaging with regulators across multiple jurisdictions, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, DFSA, will participate in the first cross-border tests organised by the Global Financial Innovation Network, GFIN.

The GFIN comprises a group of 33 international financial regulators and related organisations, including the DFSA.

GFIN members received 44 applications for the pilot, a significant number of which were from Regulatory Technology, RegTech, companies. Eight of the 44 have passed the initial screening. The DFSA received six of the 44 applications, with two RegTech firms, Ascent RegTech and Starling Trust, being considered for the cross-border pilot.

While the DFSA will engage further with each firm, and with each relevant financial services regulator, there is no guarantee that any firm will undertake an actual test. An announcement of the firms formally selected for the pilot will be made late in the second quarter of 2019.

At the end of April, as part of its ongoing initiatives to support financial technology innovation, the DFSA also invited local and international firms to apply for its 2019 Summer Cohort. Successful Cohort applicants can then apply to enter the DFSA regulatory sandbox, known as the Innovation Testing Licence Programme, ITL Programme.