The DFSA made targeted amendments to credit rating agency and prudential…

Key dates

2026-10-02

The prudential reporting amendments, including the redesigned Form B110 framework, came into force.

2027-01-01

The amended credit rating agency requirements come into force.

Suggested considerations

• Credit rating agencies should map existing conflicts-of-interest policies, relationship assessments and escalation controls against the new principles-based requirements before 2027-01-01.
• Credit rating agencies should review rating-announcement templates, annual disclosures and website disclosures to identify content that can be removed or consolidated, while retaining enough information for users to understand how each rating was determined.
• Credit rating agencies should document how they will identify relationships that may reasonably be perceived as conflicts, not only relationships that create an actual conflict.
• All authorised firms should review the redesigned Form B110 and its applicable data items, reporting frequency and submission instructions, including data previously maintained for Forms B180 and B120.
• Compliance and regulatory-reporting teams should reconcile the first B110 submission against prior B120 and B180 returns and update reporting ownership, source-system mappings, validation controls and governance records.
• Firms should confirm whether any firm-specific DFSA direction or prudential-category exception affects the B110 data items they must submit.
• Firms should retain evidence of implementation, including amended procedures, reporting mappings, control testing and approvals, in case the DFSA reviews the transition.

What changed

For credit rating agencies, the DFSA will assess relationships that may cause, or may reasonably be perceived as causing, a conflict of interest under a more principles-based framework rather than through unnecessarily prescriptive requirements. The amendments remove duplicative or overly detailed disclosure obligations while retaining the overarching requirement to provide sufficient information for users to understand how a credit rating was determined. Independent market commentary indicates that fees and charges will no longer need to be disclosed in every rating announcement, provided the continuing disclosure framework is satisfied, and that the requirement to state whether information supporting a structured-finance rating is public has been removed. For prudential reporting, the re

Who is affected

• DFSA-authorised credit rating agencies
• All DFSA-authorised firms subject to prudential reporting
• DFSA-authorised banks and deposit-taking firms
• DFSA-authorised broker-dealers, investment managers and other firms required to submit prudential returns

Related regulations

• DFSA Rulebook Prudential — Investment, Insurance Intermediation and Banking Business Module (PIB)
• DFSA Rulebook credit rating agency requirements
• DFSA Consultation Paper No. 174
• DFSA Electronic Prudential Reporting System