Dubai Financial Services Authority awarded about USD 143,000 in legal costs after Financial Markets Tribunal finds Al Ramz acted unreasonably in parts of its challenge

The Dubai Financial Services Authority said the Financial Markets Tribunal ordered Al Ramz Capital LLC to pay about AED 524,810, or roughly USD 143,000, toward the regulator’s legal costs after Al Ramz referred a 13 June 2024 Decision Notice to the tribunal. The costs award follows the tribunal’s earlier decision upholding the DFSA’s USD 25,000 fine on Al Ramz. The update is notable because it is the first case in which the DFSA sought recovery of its internal legal costs in Financial Markets Tribunal proceedings. The award covers the DFSA’s external legal costs, all internal legal costs tied to Al Ramz’s privacy application, and 25% of the internal legal costs claimed for the substantive reference. The tribunal accepted the DFSA’s position that Al Ramz had acted unreasonably in parts of the case, including by failing to narrow the issues earlier, pursuing factual arguments with little prospect of success, and raising a subjectivity argument on suspicion of market abuse only at a late stage rather than during the DFSA Decision Maker process. In relation to the privacy application, the tribunal said the firm’s concerns were essentially reputational and speculative and that, given the legal advice available to it, the submissions should have been understood to be bound to fail. Al Ramz may appeal the costs decision within 28 days of that decision, and only on a point of law.