DFSA restricts ex-SVS Securities CEO from financial activity in the DIFC

DFSA bans former SVS Securities chief Kulvir Virk from financial activity in the DIFC

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In June 2024, the FCA fined and prohibited Virk after determining that he had failed to act with integrity and to exercise due skill, care and diligence in his role at SVS.
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Dubai: The Dubai Financial Services Authority has restricted Kulvir Virk, former chief executive of the UK-based fund manager SVS Securities PLC, from conducting any financial services activity in or from the Dubai International Financial Centre. The decision follows enforcement action by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, which found Virk unfit to hold a position in regulated financial services.

In June 2024, the FCA fined and prohibited Virk after determining that he had failed to act with integrity and to exercise due skill, care and diligence in his role at SVS. The regulator concluded that his conduct posed a risk to consumers and to the wider financial system.

DFSA takes action after involvement in DIFC firm

The DFSA said that in November 2024, it became aware that Virk had been involved in managing a firm authorised within the DIFC. The regulator responded by imposing the restriction to preserve confidence in the centre’s financial ecosystem and ensure the continued protection of market participants.

The authority stated that maintaining the reputation and integrity of the DIFC remains a central focus of its regulatory mandate. The decision highlights the DFSA’s willingness to intervene when individuals sanctioned in other jurisdictions attempt to engage in regulated activity under its supervision.

“The DFSA’s role as the regulator of financial services in the DIFC includes ensuring that there are high standards of integrity and fair dealing,” said Alan Linning, Head of Enforcement at the DFSA. “We will continue to take action to ensure that those carrying out regulated functions in our market are appropriate and that these high standards are maintained.”

The DFSA said the restriction took effect immediately. The decision forms part of the regulator’s broader strategy to strengthen oversight and align with leading international compliance norms.

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

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