DIFC to name chief commissioner soon

The chief commissioner of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is likely to be a high profile European regulator. An announcement to this effect is expected in a couple of weeks.

"You might call it a blue-chip name in international financial regulation. It will bring a lot of credibility to the DIFC," said a source.

DIFC is making efforts to bring high profile names from across the financial regulatory world making sure of the widest possible geographical coverage from the best regulated centres.

Yesterday, it announced the appointment of the first members of its Regulatory Council - Robert Owen, Michael Blair and Habib Al Mulla will join Ian Hay Davison to constitute the Regulatory Council for the DIFC.

The inaugural meeting of the Regulatory Council was held in Dubai on May 28.

DIFC also announced the appointment of Michael Blair as acting Chief Legal Counsel for the Regulatory Commission.

"The breath and depth of world class experiences brought by the new members will help the DIFC to establish a regulatory agency equal to the best in the world," said Davison, chairman of the Regulatory Council.

Robert Owen has wide regulatory experience and established the Securities and 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 Mer-chant Bank; director, Asia Pacific, Lloyds Bank; member, Regulatory Council, Lloyds of London; chairman, European Society of Regulatory Affairs Publications Committee; board member, International Secu-rities 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 Invest-ment Authority; chairman, IMRO; chairman, Bar Confer-ence; and member, Bar Council.

Blair is a Harmsworth Law Scholar and holds an M.A. in Economics from Cambridge University and an M.A. in International Relations from Yale.

Dr Habib Al Mulla is managing partner of Habib Al Mulla and Co; director, Institute of Advanced Legal and Judicial Studies; arbitrator, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Abu Dhabi Center for Commercial Conci-liation and Arbitration.

He is also a founding member of the Arab Law Firms Association, Arab Licensing and Technology Transfer Society and former chairman for the UAE 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 Universi-ty.

These appointments to the Regulatory Council mark another key milestone in the development of the DIFC, which was launched on February 16.