Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2025 on the Capital Market Authority reconstitutes the UAE's federal securities regulator. From 1 January 2026 the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) is replaced by the Capital Market Authority (CMA), a federal public authority with separate legal personality that succeeds the SCA as its legal successor in all rights, obligations and contracts. Read together with Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2025 on the Regulation of the Capital Market, the reform repeals Federal Law No. 4 of 2000 and equips the CMA with a broader licensing, supervisory and enforcement mandate.
Who should read this
SCA-licensed brokers, market participants and financial service providers; listed companies and their boards; fund managers and administrators; and any firm outside the UAE that targets UAE clients. Compliance, legal and general counsel teams should map their status against the CMA framework and the one-year transition window.
Directly affected
Key facts
- Instrument: Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2025 on the Capital Market Authority, read together with Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2025 on the Regulation of the Capital Market.
- In force: 1 January 2026.
- Repeals: Federal Law No. 4 of 2000 concerning the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority and Market, in its entirety.
- New regulator: the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) is reconstituted as the Capital Market Authority (CMA), a federal public authority with separate legal personality.
- Legal succession: the CMA succeeds the SCA as legal successor in all its rights, obligations and contracts; references to the SCA in existing legislation are read as references to the CMA.
- Continuity: decisions issued by the SCA remain operative unless they conflict with the new framework.
- Transition: firms subject to the Capital Market Law are generally expected to regularise their status within one year of 1 January 2026, a period the CMA may extend.
Executive summary
This is a structural reform of the UAE's federal securities regulator, not a cosmetic rename. Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2025 dissolves the legal basis of the SCA and re-establishes it as the CMA, a federal public authority with its own legal personality and the autonomy to discharge an expanded mandate. The companion instrument, Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2025, resets the substantive rulebook for the capital market itself. Both took effect on 1 January 2026 and together repeal Federal Law No. 4 of 2000. For regulated firms the practical question is not whether they are caught — most SCA-supervised entities carry across automatically — but how quickly they can align licences, documentation and cross-border activity with the CMA's wider perimeter before the transition window closes.
What changed
The reform operates on three levels. First, institutional: the CMA is created as a federal public authority with separate legal personality, replacing the SCA's older statutory footing. The deliberate grant of independent legal personality is intended to give the regulator the autonomy and capacity to run an expanded programme of licensing, supervision, investigation and enforcement.
Second, continuity of legal effect: the CMA is the SCA's legal successor. It assumes all of the SCA's rights, obligations and contracts, every statutory reference to the SCA now reads as a reference to the CMA, and existing SCA decisions and approvals remain in force unless they conflict with the new laws. Regulated firms therefore do not need to re-apply from scratch, but they cannot assume every legacy position survives unchanged.
Third, expanded scope and mandate: the CMA's codified objectives are to protect the integrity and efficiency of the capital market, develop and regulate that market, and support the UAE's standing as a competitive international financial centre. Notably, the companion Capital Market Law reaches persons who target UAE clients regardless of where the activity is physically carried out, materially widening the licensing perimeter beyond earlier cross-border interpretations. Federal Decree-Law No. 32 also sets governance standards for the CMA itself, including board composition, chairperson designation, confidentiality duties for board members and staff, and external audit requirements.
Practical implications
For most SCA-licensed brokers, market participants, listed companies and fund managers, day-one continuity is preserved — but the transition window is finite. The one-year regularisation period means firms should treat 2026 as a mapping-and-remediation year rather than a wait-and-see one, because detailed grace-period, licensing and grandfathering rules are being issued as secondary regulation and can tighten expectations.
The extraterritorial reach of the companion law is the sharpest change for offshore managers, distributors and platforms. Any provider soliciting or servicing UAE clients from abroad should test whether its model now requires CMA licensing, even where it previously relied on a reverse-solicitation or offshore analysis. Boards of listed entities should also confirm that constitutional documents, disclosures, policies and delegated authorities correctly reference the CMA and reflect its broader enforcement toolkit.
Action points
- Inventory every SCA licence, approval, registration and contract, and confirm how each carries across to the CMA and whether any conflicts with the new framework.
- Assess cross-border activity against the widened perimeter — determine whether targeting UAE clients from abroad now triggers CMA licensing.
- Build a regularisation plan mapped to the one-year transition window from 1 January 2026, allowing for CMA extension but not relying on it.
- Update constitutional documents, prospectuses, disclosures, terms of business and internal policies to reference the CMA and its expanded powers.
- Track the secondary regulations issued under both decree-laws and adjust compliance, governance and reporting arrangements as they land.
Enforcement and transition
The CMA carries a broader supervisory and enforcement mandate than the SCA it replaces, spanning licensing, investigations, systemic-risk oversight and sanctions. Because the CMA inherits the SCA's rights and obligations, existing regulatory actions, approvals and contracts continue seamlessly, and pending matters do not reset. Firms that let the one-year regularisation window lapse without aligning their licences and cross-border activity risk supervisory intervention once the transitional accommodations end. The enacted Arabic text of the decree-laws prevails over any English summary.
Directly affected: SCA-licensed brokers and market participants, listed companies and their boards, fund managers and administrators, and cross-border providers targeting UAE clients.
Sources and authorities
Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2025 on the Capital Market Authority (with Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2025 on the Regulation of the Capital Market) — in force 1 January 2026; repeals Federal Law No. 4 of 2000 concerning the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority and Market.
UAE Legislation Portal: https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/4001
Cross-checked against leading practitioner analyses (Cleary Gottlieb, Latham & Watkins, Al Tamimi & Company, CMS, Dechert). Captured and reviewed: 2 July 2026.
Instrument details
Title: Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2025 on the Capital Market Authority.
Companion instrument: Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2025 on the Regulation of the Capital Market.
Effective date: 1 January 2026.
Repeals: Federal Law No. 4 of 2000 concerning the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority and Market.
Effect: reconstitutes the SCA as the Capital Market Authority (CMA), a federal public authority with separate legal personality; the CMA succeeds the SCA in all rights, obligations and contracts; references to the SCA are read as the CMA; existing SCA decisions remain operative unless they conflict with the new framework.
Note: this is a plain-English description prepared for guidance. Article-level references are not reproduced here; the enacted Arabic text on the official portal prevails.
Based on Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2025 on the Capital Market Authority (and Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2025) and cross-checked against leading practitioner analyses. General information only — it does not constitute legal advice, and the enacted Arabic text prevails. For advice on a specific matter, please contact us. Last updated: 2 July 2026.