Corporate governance is the buzzword nowadays within the business community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), thanks to a host of initiatives undertaken by the federal government. The corporate governance movement in the UAE has been growing since 2004, when the Abu Dhabi Securities Market conducted a review of the existing framework and issued a draft code of corporate governance. In 2006, corporate governance received a massive boost when Hawkamah, the Institute for Corporate Governance, was established in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
In April last year, the Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority (ESCA) introduced the first-ever binding code of corporate governance targeting public companies, giving those companies a three-year window to comply with the code. The Ministry of Economy followed suit in December when it issued a draft code of corporate governance, this time targeting private joint stock companies (which are a modified version of the English limited liability company).
