DIFC announces appointment of new Regulatory Council Members

The Dubai International Financial Centre has announced the appointment of the first members of its Regulatory Council. The new members, Robert Owen, Michael Blair and Habib Al Mulla will join Ian Hay Davison to constitute the Regulatory Council for the DIFC.

The new members include Robert Owen who has wide regulatory experience and established the Securities & Futures Commission in Hong Kong and was appointed as Executive Chairman in 1989. Prior to this he was Director, Investment Banking, Lloyds Bank Group, Chairman and Chief Executive, Lloyds Merchant Bank, Director, Asia Pacific, Lloyds Bank, Member, Regulatory Council, Lloyds of London, Chairman, European Society of Regulatory Affairs Publications Committee, Board Member, International Securities Consultancy, and Deputy Chairman, Nomura Asia Holdings. He had his education at Oxford University. Michael Blair was General Counsel, Financial Services Authority, UK, from 1989-2000. He was also General Counsel and Acting Chief Executive for the Securities and Investments Board and Head of the Courts and Legal Services Group, Lord Chancellor’s Department, Member, Securities and Futures

Authority and Personal Investment Authority, Chairman, IMRO, Chairman, Bar Conference, Member, Bar Council. Mr. Blair is a Harmsworth Law Scholar and holds an MA in Economics from Cambridge University and an MA in International Relations from Yale.

Dr Habib Al Mulla is the Managing Partner of Habib Al Mulla & Company, Director, Institute of Advanced Legal and Judicial Studies, Arbitrator, China International Economic & Trade Arbitration Commission, Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Abu Dhabi Center for Commercial Conciliation & Arbitration. He is also a founding member of the Arab Law Firms Association, Arab Licensing and Technology Transfer Society and Former Chairman for the U.A.E. Jurists Association (1994-1996). Dr. Al Mulla lectures at The American University and Emirates Banking and Financial Studies Institute. He has an LLB from UAE University, LLM from Harvard Law School and a PHD from Cambridge University.

These appointments to the regulatory council mark another key milestone in the Development of the DIFC, which was launched on the 16th Feb by HH General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and the UAE’s Minister of Defense.