The DFSA Board has introduced new Rules in respect of Depositor Protection, and made amendments in respect of Client Money Distribution Rules, in the COB module of the DFSA Rulebook. The detailed changes and consolidated revision of the updated module are set out below.

By these amendments, the DFSA has introduced a regime of depositor preference through a new Rule which provides protection in the event of insolvency of a Bank which is a Domestic Firm.

The benchmarking conducted by the DFSA shows that the majority of jurisdictions reviewed have, or are introducing, some form of depositor preference. International regulatory standards are converging on the need for some degree of protection for deposits in bank accounts. It is of note that the recent EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive requires, among other things, that eligible deposits (in that case, deposits from natural persons) have a higher priority ranking in insolvency than the claims of ordinary unsecured creditors. The UK has already implemented this requirement in the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013.

The additional amendments to the Client Money Distribution Rules are to correct anomalies in the cross references.

The DFSA Board was satisfied that any delay in the making of the new and amended rules would be prejudicial to the interests of the DIFC. Accordingly the rules were not consulted upon.

TAKE NOTICE THAT:

The following Rulemaking Instrument comes into force at 18:30 hours on 24 August 2014.

• CONDUCT OF BUSINESS MODULE (COB) INSTRUMENT (NO 144) 2014, which repeals and replaces the Conduct of Business (COB) module of the DFSA Rulebook with an updated version (see appendix 1 attached hereto for the detailed amendments)

The rule-making instrument mentioned above and the appendix to this notice can be viewed under the "Amendments to Legislation" section of the DFSA website and the relevant module of the Rulebook will be replaced on the DFSA website on the date of coming into force as described above. Earlier versions of the relevant module are to be found in the archive.

Issued

24 August 2014