Dubai Financial centre proposes new set of regulations-aimed at encouraging securitisation transactions at the centre and cater to and encourage expansion of Shariah products and services.

“With the increasing number and growing sophistication of transactions taking place in the Dubai International Financial Centre, the DIFC has again proved its commitment to international best practices – this time in the area of securitisation and other structured finance transactions,” DIFC governor Omar Bin Sulaiman said in a statement Monday.

DIFC had recently, in partnership with the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), opened the DIFC LCIA Arbitration Centre to offer dispute resolution services to all business and commercial sectors.

Bin Sulaiman said the new set of regulations is designed to respond to the requirements of companies across various sectors in a flexible manner.

“The simplicity of these new regulations also demonstrates the robustness of the existing legislative system, where it is now possible to introduce new areas of activity with relatively minor changes to our existing framework,” he said.

DIFc chief executive Nasser Al Shaali said that the new regulations were aimed at encouraging securitisation transactions at the centre and cater to and encourage the expansion of the products and services available at the DIFC.

The deadline for providing comments on these proposals is March 27, 2008.

DIFC is a 110-acre free zone in this west Asian metropolis offering its facilities to several sectors of financial activity including banking services, capital markets, asset management and fund registration, insurance and re-insurance, Islamic finance and professional service providers.

It bridges the time gap between the financial centres of Hong Kong and London and is the world’s fastest growing financial centre in the world.

Over 550 firms are registered with the DIFC.

IANS