How to Check a Financial Adviser in the UAE

Before you act on financial advice in the UAE, find the adviser's firm on the public register of the regulator that licenses it (the DFSA in the DIFC, the FSRA in ADGM, or the Securities and Commodities Authority or the Central Bank of the UAE onshore), check that its licence covers the advice you are getting, and get every charge, commission and exit penalty in writing before you sign. If the advice touches a UK pension, check the FCA register as well. This guide shows where to look and what to ask. Landed does not recommend any adviser, firm or product.

Last reviewed 22 October 2026. Sources are listed at the end; several were read from search results and are marked.

People new to the UAE are often approached about savings plans and pension transfers in their first months, when a gratuity or a UK pension pot is on their mind. None of that is a reason to decide quickly.

The headline picture

Step 1: find out who regulates the firm

Ask the adviser three questions in writing: the legal name of the firm, which regulator licenses it, and its licence or reference number. The answer tells you which register to check.

• DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre). The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) says only firms it has authorised and licensed may provide financial services in or from the DIFC. Search the DFSA Public Register for the firm and the individual, and the DIFC Public Register to confirm the firm is registered there.
• ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market). The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) keeps a public register of firms and individuals it has approved, showing whether a firm is authorised and its trading names. The FSRA says only firms it authorises may carry on regulated activities in ADGM.
• Onshore UAE. The Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) licenses financial consultancy and investment advice; it tells investors to check the list of licensed companies on its own website or that of the Central Bank of the UAE. Insurance products, including life insurance savings plans, come under the Central Bank of the UAE, whose rulebook carries the insurance regulations.
• UK. The FCA's Financial Services Register shows whether a firm or individual is authorised in the UK and for what. The FCA's Warning List names unauthorised firms, but the FCA notes that a firm missing from it is not proof that the firm is legitimate. A UK authorisation covers UK business; for advice given to you in the UAE, check the UAE register too.

Step 2: check the licence covers what you are being sold

A firm can be licensed for one activity and not another, for example arranging insurance but not advising on investments. On the register, look at the firm's permissions, check the individual is listed as working for it, and compare both with what you are being offered. If the firm's name, address or website differs from the register entry, contact the regulator before going further. The DFSA, the FSRA and the SCA all publish alerts about firms using names or licences that are not theirs.

Step 3: get every charge in writing

Ask for a written breakdown, in AED or pounds, of:

• How the adviser is paid. A fee you pay directly, a commission from the product provider, or both. In the UK, advisers have not been allowed to take product commission on retail investment advice since 31 December 2012; they agree a fee with you instead, and must say whether their advice is independent (drawn from the whole market) or restricted (a limited range of products or providers). That rule does not apply to advice given under UAE regulation, so ask both questions.
• Every charge inside the product. Set-up charges, annual management charges, fund charges, policy fees and any charge on each contribution. For life insurance and family takaful savings plans, the Insurance Authority's Board Decision 49 of 2019 (now in the Central Bank's rulebook) requires all fees and charges to be shown to you.
• What you get back if you stop. Ask for the surrender value at the end of years 1, 2, 5 and 10 if you stop paying in or cash the plan in. Long regular-savings plans can tie you in for many years, and the figure shows what leaving early costs.
• The cooling-off period. Board Decision 49 gives a 30-day free look period on life insurance savings plans, during which you can cancel and get your money back.

Step 4: take extra care with UK pensions

• Defined benefit (final salary) pensions. Under section 48 of the Pension Schemes Act 2015, a scheme must check you have taken advice from an FCA-authorised adviser before it lets you transfer safeguarded benefits worth more than £30,000. The FCA applies this whether you live in the UK or abroad.
• Overseas transfers. Moving a UK pension into an overseas scheme (a QROPS) can trigger a 25% overseas transfer charge unless an exemption applies, and the exemptions were narrowed from 30 October 2024. Ask the adviser, in writing, whether the charge applies to you and why.

The Pensions guide covers what happens to UK pensions when you leave.

Worked example: what charges take from a gratuity

After five years on a basic salary of AED 24,000 a month, your end-of-service gratuity is AED 82,849 on the Gratuity Calculator's method. You are offered two ways to invest it for ten years. One has total charges of 1% a year, the other 3% a year. These are example figures, not typical ones, and the example assumes no investment growth, so it shows the charges alone.

| | 1% a year | 3% a year | | --- | --- | --- | | Value after 10 years | AED 74,927 | AED 61,095 | | Taken in charges | AED 7,922 | AED 21,754 |

The higher-charge option takes AED 13,832 more over ten years from the same AED 82,849. Ask for the charges as a total percentage a year, and for the surrender values, before comparing any two plans.

Warning signs

• You were contacted first, by phone, message or at work, about a pension transfer or a savings plan.
• The adviser will not give the firm's licence number, or the register shows a different name or address.
• You are asked to sign the same day, or told an offer ends soon.
• Charges are given only as "the plan pays the adviser", with no figure.
• The plan ties you in for ten years or more and the surrender values are not shown.

What this guide does not cover

• Which adviser, firm, product or fund to use. Landed does not recommend any.
• Investment strategy, or whether a particular plan suits you.
• Making a complaint. Each regulator's website explains its complaints route.
• UK tax on investments after you return. The Returning to the UK guide covers the return.

Next steps

• Check any firm you are dealing with on its regulator's register before your next meeting.
• Read the Pensions guide before any conversation about a UK pension.
• Work out your own gratuity with the Gratuity Calculator.

Sources

Checked 22 October 2026. The regulators' sites cannot be opened from the session that wrote this guide, so where a rule was read from search results quoting a page, it says so.

• DFSA alerts (Dubai Financial Services Authority): only DFSA-authorised firms may provide financial services in or from the DIFC; check the DFSA and DIFC public registers. Search results.
• FSRA Public Register (ADGM): firms and individuals approved by the FSRA, their status and trading names. Search results.
• UAE's SCA warns against forged licences by financial firms (Gulf News): check licensed companies on the SCA or Central Bank website. Search results.
• Insurance Authority Board Decision No. 49 of 2019 (Central Bank of the UAE rulebook), effective 16 October 2020 after Resolution 15 of 2020: 30-day free look period, disclosure of all fees and charges. Read from search results (Gulf News, Mondaq).
• FCA Warning List and FCA Firm Checker (Financial Conduct Authority): the register, the Warning List and its limits. Search results.
• UK commission ban from 31 December 2012, and the independent and restricted labels (Retail Distribution Review): Pinsent Masons. Search results.
• Section 48 of the Pension Schemes Act 2015 (advice before transferring safeguarded benefits over £30,000): Financial Ombudsman Service decision DRN-4439062 and Financial Planning Today (FCA position for members abroad). Search results.
• Overseas transfer charge (25%) and the changes from 30 October 2024: CMS and Taxation (the charge as introduced in 2017). Search results.
• Worked example: statutoryGratuityAED in Landed's code and compound arithmetic, run on 22 October 2026.