CBUAE Consumer Protection Regulation (Circular No. 8/2020)chapter by chapter

Article 2.1.2.1-2.1.2.102.1 Disclosure

LFIs must give Consumers complete, accurate, timely disclosure of financial products in plain English and Arabic, including risks, costs, fees and locked terms, and continuously improve disclosure effectiveness.

Article 2.2.2.1-2.2.2.42.2 Transparency

LFIs must provide consumers with suitable options and transparency to facilitate informed decisions without benefiting from their ignorance.

Article 2.3.2.1-2.3.2.52.3 Marketing

Financial institutions' advertising and marketing must be clearly identified as financial promotion, use plain language, avoid deceptive or exaggerated content, and comply across all channels including social media.

Article 3.1.2.1-3.1.2.23.1 Institutional Oversight

Boards and senior management must set oversight and responsibility structures, instil a consumer-focused culture, and actively detect and address misconduct and market conduct risk.

Article 3.2.2.1, 3.2.2.3, 3.2.2.4, 3.2.2.5, 3.2.2.63.2 Governance and Management Oversight

Licensed financial institutions must maintain strong governance and management oversight of consumer product design, sales and distribution, plus controls, staff monitoring and a consumer-fairness corporate culture.

Article 3.2.2.23.2 Governance and Management Oversight

LFIs offering or promoting Shari'ah compliant products must comply with Shari'ah governance requirements set out in the separate Central Bank Shari'ah governance Regulation.

Article 3.2.2.73.2 Governance and Management Oversight

Licensed financial institutions must ensure all Authorized Agents comply with the applicable provisions of this regulation and accompanying Standards.

Article 4.1.2.1-4.1.2.54.1 Responsible Market Conduct

Financial institutions must uphold high ethical market practices, prohibit abusive sales, marketing and pricing, promote transparency and fair competition, and ensure competent independent control functions.

Article 4.2.2.1-4.2.2.44.2 Promoting Competition

Licensed financial institutions must give consumers accurate, sufficient and comparable information, avoid barriers to switching providers, refrain from collusion, and not use misleading information to gain competitive advantage.

Article 5.1.2.1, 5.1.2.4, 5.1.2.5, 5.1.2.7, 5.1.2.8, 5.1.2.95.1 Responsible Business Conduct

LFIs must act with due skill, care, fairness and honesty, avoid abusive contract terms, monitor staff conduct and competence, and guard against exploiting vulnerable Consumers.

Article 5.1.2.2-5.1.2.35.1 Responsible Business Conduct

Licensed financial institutions must maintain policies, procedures and controls to avoid conflicts of interest, and for inherent conflicts, provide full disclosure to consumers before any agreement.

Article 5.1.2.65.1 Responsible Business Conduct

Licensed Financial Institutions must establish remuneration and appraisal policies to prevent mis-selling and unethical practices.

Article 5.1.2.105.1 Responsible Business Conduct

Licensed financial institutions must monitor borrowers facing debt-servicing difficulties, appoint a credit counsellor on request, and inform delinquent borrowers that qualified credit counsellors are available.

Article 5.2.2.1-5.2.2.25.2 Treating Consumers Fairly

All consumers must be treated equitably, honestly and fairly at every stage of the relationship, with clear information on their rights, including efficient complaint resolution.

Article 5.2.2.35.2 Treating Consumers Fairly

Licensed financial institutions must not restrict consumer choice through tied selling or bundling of products or services.

Article 5.2.2.45.2 Treating Consumers Fairly

Licensed financial institutions must not profit from their own errors, must rectify errors without undue delay, and must promptly notify affected consumers in writing of the error's cause, impact and rectification.

Article 5.2.2.55.2 Treating Consumers Fairly

Licensed financial institutions must set clear standards and procedures prohibiting undue or coercive pressure on consumers when collecting repayments, payments or debts owed.

Article 6.1.2.1-6.1.2.2, 6.1.2.66.1 Consumer Data Protection

Licensed financial institutions must establish a Data Management and Protection function for safeguarding consumer personal data and manage record-keeping in compliance with laws.

Article 6.1.2.36.1 Consumer Data Protection

Licensed financial institutions must maintain security and monitoring measures to detect unauthorized internal access to consumer information, and record any access breach, misuse, or unauthorized release, including harm caused, for Central Bank review.

Article 6.1.2.46.1 Consumer Data Protection

Licensed financial institutions must notify the Central Bank of significant data breaches and inform affected customers promptly, offering reimbursement for direct harms.

Article 6.1.2.56.1 Consumer Data Protection

Financial institutions must ensure consumers can make informed choices when giving express consent for their data to be collected, used, and shared with third parties and within the institution.

Article 6.2.2.16.2 Protection Against Financial Crime, Misappropriation and Misuse

LFIs must keep Consumers' information, relationships and business affairs private and confidential, without prejudice to other applicable laws and regulations.

Article 6.2.2.2-6.2.2.3, 6.2.2.56.2 Protection Against Financial Crime, Misappropriation and Misuse

Licensed financial institutions must implement strict internal controls protecting consumer deposits, funds, information and data against internal fraud, and rapidly detect fraud with updated cyber security defences.

Article 6.2.2.46.2 Protection Against Financial Crime, Misappropriation and Misuse

LFIs must promptly compensate consumers for financial losses due to financial crimes unless caused by consumer's negligence.

Article 6.2.2.66.2 Protection Against Financial Crime, Misappropriation and Misuse

LFIs must perform sufficient consumer awareness activities to educate consumers on protecting themselves from financial crime.

Article 7.1.2.1-7.1.2.2, 7.1.2.67.1 Responsible Financing

LFIs must gather accurate financial information on consumers, assess their financial situations, and provide written affordability testing results.

Article 7.1.2.3-7.1.2.57.1 Responsible Financing

Licensed financial institutions must ensure credit does not cause over-indebtedness, charge no unreasonable fees, and not provide excessive credit beyond consumers' needs or affordable levels.

Article 7.1.2.77.1 Responsible Financing

Licensed financial institutions must not grant or extend any credit to consumers without the consumer's expressed and documented consent.

Article 7.1.2.8-7.1.2.107.1 Responsible Financing

Licensed financial institutions must ensure staff pay does not incentivise aggressive credit granting, monitor sales staff with monthly trend analysis, and document corrective action on anomalies.

Article 7.1.2.117.1 Responsible Financing

Licensed financial institutions must ensure consumer credit information sent to external bodies, including the Credit Information Agency, is accurate and timely, and promptly correct any errors discovered.

Article 8.1.2.1-8.1.2.28.1 Complaint Management and Complaint Resolution

LFIs must set up an independent complaint management function reporting directly to Senior Management, with an effective complaint system that lets consumers complain easily and free of cost.

Article 8.1.2.3, 8.1.2.88.1 Complaint Management and Complaint Resolution

Licensed Financial Institutions must inform consumers of their rights and complaint processes ensuring fairness, transparency, and neutrality.

Article 8.1.2.4, 8.1.2.6-8.1.2.78.1 Complaint Management and Complaint Resolution

LFIs must accept and address complaints involving their authorized agents' activities, ensure agents run credible unbiased complaint resolution, and train staff and agents to handle complaints.

Article 8.1.2.58.1 Complaint Management and Complaint Resolution

LFIs must comply with Central Bank complaint time frames, including acknowledgment and written response turnaround, and give consumers written explanations for any delay or inability to resolve complaints.

Article 8.2.2.18.2 Data

Licensed financial institutions must analyse complaint data to identify key risks and trends, investigate themes, find root causes of repeat issues, design controls, and document actions for Central Bank review.

Article 8.2.2.28.2 Data

Licensed financial institutions must provide complaints data to senior management quarterly so management can monitor trends and support decision-making.

Article 8.2.2.38.2 Data

Licensed financial institutions must ensure complaints data reported to Senior Management and the regulator is accurate, timely and compliant with their data governance policies and procedures.

Article 9.1.2.1-9.1.2.49.1 Consumer Education and Awareness

Licensed financial institutions must run ongoing financial education and awareness initiatives, provide unbiased risk information for digital products, and collaborate with the Central Bank on consumer education.

Article 10.1.2.1-10.1.2.610.1 Vulnerable Groups and People of Determination

Licensed financial institutions must consider vulnerable groups and People of Determination in product design, offer basic low-cost products, train staff, and ensure accessible ATMs and branches.

Article 10.2.2.1-10.2.2.410.2 Minority Groups

Licensed financial institutions must adopt an anti-discrimination code of conduct and must not discriminate against consumers on family status, gender or minority-group membership in credit and pricing decisions.

Article 11.1.2.1-11.1.2.211.1 Shari'ah Compliance for Financial Services

Islamic Financial Institutions must uphold Shari'ah principles, comply with their Internal Shari'ah Supervision Committee, and the Board and Senior Management must integrate Shari'ah compliance into culture, processes and operations.

Article 13Enforcement and Sanctions

Violations of the Consumer Protection Regulation may trigger Central Bank sanctions, including fines and replacing or restricting senior management or board members' powers.