The Dubai Financial Services Authority has fined the Middle East unit of Moody's Investors Service $585,825 (Dh2.15 million) for failing to safeguard confidential information over more than two years.
Moody's Investors Service Middle East Limited (Mismel) breached regulations governing credit rating agencies with seven incidents of inadvertent data disclosure between December 2023 and May 2026, the DFSA said on Wednesday.
An investigation found that Mismel, which has been licensed by the DFSA since 2012, failed to maintain adequate systems and controls to protect confidential information and prevent unauthorised disclosures by employees.
“It handles a large volume of data, including highly sensitive and confidential information relating to its customers, including public and private companies, governments and other counterparties,” the DFSA said.
The seven violations include incidents of inadvertent data disclosures, four of which involved confidential data being disclosed to external recipients, it said.
“Credit rating agencies … are entrusted by issuers with confidential and market-sensitive data in relation to their rating activities,” said Alan Linning, managing director for enforcement at the DFSA.
“They must ensure all such information is protected from unauthorised access or disclosure, which could harm the integrity, stability and orderly functioning of financial markets.”
Authorities in the UAE have been vigilant in cracking down on organisations that breach regulations as part of work to maintain the Emirati financial system's integrity and reliability.
This week, the DFSA, which oversees activity at the Dubai International Financial Centre, fined former financier Gary Joseph Peters, who worked for a DFSA-authorised firm from 2020 to 2022, $210,000 for providing false, misleading and deceptive information to the regulator and failing to produce documents.
Earlier this month, the authority fined the Dubai unit of Hayman-Woodward Global Mobility Services $454,367 for providing unauthorised services for more than six years, and imposed a Dh401,000 penalty on wealth management services firm Vault Wealth for conducting transactions without authorisation.
Abu Dhabi's ADGM and the Central Bank of the UAE have also announced their own disciplinary actions and penalties for violations of their regulations.
Measures to regulate financial services in the UAE “are essential to safeguarding data integrity, maintaining investor confidence and preserving trust in the financial services industry”, Mr Linning said.
