The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), has this week, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The MoU was signed by the Chief Executive of the DFSA, Mr Paul Koster and Executive Director of the RBI, Mr G Gopalakrishna, during a visit by Mr Koster and senior DFSA executives to Mumbai. The ceremony at the Central office of the RBI took place in the presence of Dr KC Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor of the Bank. One of the DFSA Board Members, the Honourable Apurv Bagri, also attended the meeting and later in the evening hosted a dinner to mark the occasion.

The Reserve Bank of India was established in 1935 as the Central Bank of the country entrusted with monetary stability, the management of currency and the supervision of the financial as well as the payments system.

Mr Paul M Koster, Chief Executive of the DFSA said, “The DFSA is honoured to be the first regulator, after the China Banking Regulatory Commission to sign an MoU with the Reserve Bank of India, a respected supervisor of one of the world’s largest financial systems. Indian banks have a significant, and growing, presence in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), so this enhancement of information sharing and assistance between the RBI and the DFSA is a critical step to ensuring confidence in each of our regulatory regimes.”

“This initiative reflects each authority’s commitment to co-operation in relation to prudential oversight and inspections. It adopts the model for information sharing developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and follows similar arrangements the DFSA has with other significant banking supervisors such as the UK Financial Services Authority, Germany’s Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, Banque de France, China Banking Regulatory Commission and the United States Federal Reserve. The DFSA looks forward to working with RBI for the benefit of both India and the DIFC.”