Last-night review — every number that matters
Don't try to memorise everything in one go. Three passes: (1) skim and mark surprising thresholds, (2) chapter-by-chapter focused study, (3) night-before-exam pure-numbers refresh. The exam loves trap pairs (10/15 closed periods, 100k/500k natural-vs-legal fines, 75/80/50 RE-fund-vs-REIT-vs-borrow) — drill them as pairs, not in isolation.
Ch 1 · Regulatory Infrastructure
| SCA board term | 4 yrs, renew × 1 |
| Missed meetings → out | 3 consecutive |
| Securities disclosure | Within 1 week |
| SCA fiscal year | 1 Jan – 31 Dec |
| Final accounts to board | 90 days |
| Budget before new FY | ≥ 1 month |
| Cabinet reporting | Every 6 months |
| Market licence — SCA review | 15 days |
| Market licence — board decision | 30 days |
| Symbolic gift cap | AED 500 |
| Related party — board only | < 5% |
| Related party — GA + assessor | ≥ 5% |
| Related party — sister defn | ≥ 30% |
| Document retention | ≥ 10 years |
| Cat 1 (Securities) | AED 30m |
| Cat 2 (Investment) | AED 50m |
| Cat 3 (Custody) | AED 50m |
| Cat 4 (Rating) | AED 5m |
| Cat 5 (Advice) | None |
Trap: Related-party "5/5/30" trio — <5% board, ≥5% GA, ≥30% sister definition.
Ch 2 · Licensed Bodies
| Admin fine per violation | AED 100,000 |
| Suspension — body max | 1 year |
| Suspension — employee max | 2 months |
| No-activity → cancellation | 6 months |
| Serious violation lookback | 5 years |
| Moderate violation lookback | 2 years |
| Cancellation publication | 2 papers (1 Arabic) |
| Record retention | ≥ 10 years |
| Archive recovery | 3 BD |
| Employee data retention | 10 yrs from last UPDATE |
| Cloud retention | 10 yrs zero-data-loss |
| Cloud audit | Annual |
| Complaint non-response | 10 BD |
Trap: Body 1 year, employee 2 months — easy to invert.
Ch 3 · Investment Funds (founders & approval)
| Family fund ownership | 100% (NOT 90%) |
| Self-mgd corporate founder capital | AED 20m |
| Prior profitability | 2 financial years |
| Founders' subscription | ≥ AED 5m |
| Founders' lock-up | 6 months |
| Initial approval — public | 10 WD |
| Initial approval — private | 5 WD |
| Final approval submission | 30 days |
| SCA certificate | 5 days |
| Begin investment policy | 12 months |
| First FY duration | 6–18 months |
| Semi-annual reports | 45 days |
| Annual reports | 3 months |
| Private fund — transfer min | AED 180,000 |
Trap: 100% family ownership — NOT 90%. The MOST-tested trap on the exam.
Ch 3 · Investment Funds (fund types)
| VC fund — qualifying | ≥ 70% |
| VC fund — lending cap | ≤ 30% |
| VC fund — full reporting | ≥ AED 180m AUM |
| Cash fund — rating | BBB+ |
| Cash fund — allocation | ≥ 90% |
| Cash fund — WAM | ≤ 120 days |
| Real estate fund alloc | ≥ 75% |
| REIT distribution | ≥ 80% |
| REIT borrowing cap | ≤ 50% |
| In-kind — exp (gen/field) | 5 / 3 yrs |
| In-kind — blackout (pre/post) | 15 / 5 days |
| In-kind — data freshness | ≤ 3 months |
| GP/LP — income test | ≥ AED 3m |
| GP/LP — net equity test | ≥ AED 7m (ex-residence) |
| Foreign fund — onshore | AED 500,000 |
| Foreign fund — free zone | AED 1,000,000 |
| Foreign fund approval | 15 days |
| Promoter notification stop | 10 days |
Trap: 75% (RE allocation) / 80% (REIT distribution) / 50% (REIT borrowing) — three different rules, three different numbers.
Ch 4 · Markets (IPO & capital)
| IPO min subscription (PJSC) | AED 5m |
| IPO working capital | 12 months |
| PJSC conversion — net profit | ≥ 10% × 2 yrs |
| Share premium base | 6-mo average |
| Share premium max deduction | ≤ 25% |
| Rights — advance notice | ≥ 20 BD |
| Rights — trading window | ≥ 10 BD |
| Buyback — max % | 10% of capital |
| Buyback — SCA approval | 15 WD |
| Buyback — execution | 1 year |
| Buyback blackout | 15 days / 3 days |
| Major shareholder disclosure | 5% |
| Independent directors | ≥ 1/3 board |
Ch 4 · Markets (watch-list & debt)
| Closed period — material | 10 days |
| Closed period — financial | 15 days |
| Watch-list initial | 1 year |
| Watch-list cap | 3 years |
| Action plan disclosure | Every 3 months |
| 2nd cat — suspension | 6 mo consecutive |
| 2nd cat — losses | ≥ 50% capital |
| Voluntary delisting notice | ≥ 90 days |
| Delisting notification | 30 days |
| Conciliation decision | 15 WD |
| Debt / Sukuk min issue | ≥ AED 10m |
| Sukuk annual filing | 180 days |
| Crypto retail per-client | AED 350,000 |
| Crypto individual sanction | ≤ 2 months |
| Depository terminal install | 1 week |
| CSD record retention | ≥ 15 years |
| Bonus fractions sold | 30 days |
| Pledged securities max | 50% |
Trap: 10 days material vs 15 days financial — embargo pair. Memory: "material is faster (10), financial is fixed (15)".
Ch 5 · AML/CFT (CDD & STR)
| CDD — occasional txn | ≥ AED 55,000 |
| CDD — wire transfer | ≥ AED 3,500 |
| Beneficial owner | ≥ 25% |
| Record retention | ≥ 5 yrs from END |
| STR destination | FIU |
| STR timing | Immediately |
| Compliance officer reports | Semi-annual |
| SCA admin trading ban max | 1 year |
| Sanctions screening | Onboarding + ongoing |
Trap: AED 55,000 (occasional) vs AED 3,500 (wire). Wire is much lower — FATF Rec 16.
Ch 5 · AML/CFT (penalties)
| ML — natural | ≤ 10 yr + 100k–5m |
| Aggravated ML | Temp imp + 300k–10m |
| Terrorism financing | Life/≥10yr + 300k–10m |
| ML — legal person | AED 500k–50m |
| Failure to report STR | Imp + 100k–1m |
| Tipping off | ≥ 6 mo + 100k–500k |
| Market abuse (Art 37) | 3 mo–3 yr + 100k–1m |
| Admin penalty per violation | AED 50k–5m |
Trap: Natural ML 100k–5m vs legal-person ML 500k–50m. Both digits scale 5× for legal person.
Ch 6 · Client Protection
| Suitability — full review | 3 years |
| Client data undertaking | Annual |
| Statements — retail | 6 months |
| Statements — leveraged | Monthly |
| Statements — deal-by-deal | 12 months |
| Order execution confirm | Next BD |
| Loss-limit breach | End of BD |
| Promoter notification stop | 10 days |
| Fund promotion approval | 15 days |
| Promo material — major SH | ≥ 10% |
| Introducer decision | 15 days |
| SPAC — initial capital | ≥ AED 100k |
| SPAC — post-IPO capital | ≥ AED 100m |
| SPAC — sponsor share | 3% – 20% |
| SPAC — subscription window | 5–30 BD (+10 ext) |
| SPAC — escrow | ≥ 90% within 2 BD |
| SPAC — combination deadline | 2 yrs (extendable to 3) |
| SPAC — target valuation | ≥ 80% deposited funds |
| SPAC — merger approval | ≥ 75% of votes |
Trap: Statements 6 / 1 / 12 — retail every 6 months, leveraged monthly, deal-by-deal 12 months.
Ch 7 · Trading
| E-Trading approval | 1 yr (31 Dec) |
| Back-up retention | 10 years |
| Brokerage quarterly | 45 days |
| Brokerage annual | 90 days |
| Foreign broker clean | 6 months |
| Block deal min size | ≥ 1% capital |
| Block deal price range | ±25% prev close |
| Register deposit | 5 WD |
| Settlement — CSD report | 08:00 |
| Settlement — funds in | 09:00 |
| Settlement — bank transfer | 09:30 |
| Trade-day objection | 3pm |
| CCP paid-up capital | AED 50m |
| CCP licence fee | AED 200k |
| CCP independent board | ≥ 1/3 (min 2) |
| CCP skin in game | AED 10m |
| Margin confidence | 99% |
| Default fund stress | Daily |
| DGCX Gold size | 32 troy oz |
| DGCX Silver size | 1,000 troy oz (±10%) |
| Shanghai Gold last day | 15th calendar day |
| Brent delivery months | 18 monthly |
| WTI delivery months | 18 monthly + 10 semi-annual |
Trap: Settlement timing 08 / 09 / 09:30 — three steps in order.
Ch 8 · DFM
| DFM capital | AED 8bn / 20% public |
| Client statements | Quarterly |
| Failed settlement action | 1 WD |
| Mistake adjustment | 30 min from session end |
| Settlement cycle | T+2 |
| Pre-opening lock-in | Last 5 min |
| Record retention | 10 years |
| Default TIF | Day order |
| Order priority | Price → time |
| Closed — material | 10 days |
| Closed — financial | 15 days |
Trap: Default TIF is Day Order — if no TIF specified, the order expires at session end.
🔥 Master trap-pair drill (the most-confused numbers)
| Closed periods | 10 days (material) / 15 days (financial) |
| CDD triggers | AED 55k (occasional) / AED 3,500 (wire) |
| ML fines | 100k–5m (natural) / 500k–50m (legal person) |
| RE fund vs REIT | 75% allocation / 80% distribution / 50% borrowing |
| Suspensions | 1 year (body) / 2 months (employee) |
| Violation lookback | 5 yrs (serious) / 2 yrs (moderate) |
| VC fund | 70% qualifying / 30% lending cap / 180m AUM |
| Foreign fund min | AED 500k (onshore) / AED 1m (free zone) |
| Statement cadence | 6 mo (retail) / monthly (leveraged) / 12 mo (deal-by-deal) |
| In-kind evaluator | 5+3 yrs exp / 15+5 day blackout / 3 mo freshness |
| Brokerage reports | 45 days (quarterly) / 90 days (annual) |
| Approval windows | 15 days (foreign fund) / 10 days (promoter stop) |
| License cat capital | 30 / 50 / 50 / 5 / 0 (millions AED) |
| Related-party | <5% board / ≥5% GA / ≥30% sister defn |