Federal Decree-Law No. (6) of 2025 Regarding the Central Bank, Regulation of Financial Institutions and Activities, and Insurance Business

At a glance

Full text

Official full text: Federal Decree-Law No. (6) of 2025 Regarding the Central Bank, Regulation of Financial Institutions and Activities, and Insurance Business (PDF, en)¹ · 633 KB · file checked 2026-09-24

Official page: rulebook.centralbank.ae²

Summary

This decree-law re-establishes the Central Bank of the UAE's mandate and consolidates regulation of banks, insurance, payments and financial market infrastructures. It requires a Central Bank licence for taking deposits, credit and funding facilities, open finance, currency exchange and money transfer, payment services using virtual assets, stored value/retail payment/digital money services, dealing as principal, and insurance/reinsurance business, explicitly extending jurisdiction to virtual-asset payment tokens, DeFi and technology platforms facilitating such activities (Art. 61-62). It sets licensing procedure and criteria (fit-and-proper, minimum capital), grounds for licence suspension/withdrawal, prior-approval requirements for controlling-interest holders, and administrative, civil and criminal penalties for unlicensed activity, false representation and other breaches. It repeals the 2018 Central Bank Law and 2023 Insurance Decree-Law.

Summary written by the Atlas from the official text; the law itself prevails.

Main articles

• Art. 61: Lists financial activities requiring Central Bank licence, including payment services using virtual assets.
• Art. 62: Extends licensing/oversight to virtual-asset payment tokens, DeFi and enabling technology platforms.
• Art. 63-65: Licence application, fit-and-proper/capital criteria, and power to impose licence conditions.
• Art. 66: Grounds for suspension, withdrawal or revocation of a licence.
• Art. 120: Prior Central Bank approval required to hold or increase a controlling interest in a licensed institution.
• Art. 161-171: Art. 170 punishes unlicensed activity under Art. 61 (imprisonment, fine AED 50,000-500,000,000); Art. 161 sets Financial Market Infrastructure violation rules; Art. 171 covers confidentiality breaches, not unlicensed activity.
• Art. 184-185: One-year reconciliation period; repeals Decretal Federal Law No. 14/2018 and Federal Decree-Law No. 48/2023.
• Art. 188: Law takes effect the day following its publication in the Official Gazette.

Licences it governs

• Bank · United Arab Emirates

  Commercial Bank Licence

  CBUAE

Regulators that apply it

• United Arab Emirates

  Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE)

  The Central Bank of the UAE is the apex monetary and financial supervisory authority of the United Arab Emirates, established to promote mon