The Dubai branch of high-net worth mortgage broker Enness Private Finance has been fined the equivalent of £81,000 by the state’s financial regulator for acting beyond the scope of its licence.

The watchdog for the Dubai International Financial Centre hit the firm with a fine of 105,000 US dollars for the breach.

In a statement the e Dubai Financial Services Authority regulator says: “As a representative office, Enness DIFC is only permitted to carry out a narrow set of activities in the DIFC relating to the marketing of mortgage services offered by its head office based in the United Kingdom.

“The DFSA’s investigation found that between November 2017 and January 2019, Enness DIFC arranged mortgages for its clients, and provided mortgage advice for its clients. 

“Enness DIFC was not authorised to engage in such activity, and in doing so acted outside the scope of its representative office licence, in breach of the DFSA’s laws.”

The regulator says that Enness DIFC fully cooperated with its investigation and has sought to obtain an appropriate licence.

It says that as the company agreed to settle at an early stage it qualified for a discount 0 without which the fine would have been 150,000 US dollars. 

DFSA chief executive Bryan Stirewalt says: “This action demonstrates that the DFSA takes the failure by Representative Offices to act within the scope of their Licences seriously. 

“We expect that all Representative Offices in the DIFC understand what they are authorised to do, and have controls in place that ensure they only engage in authorised activities.”

Enness Private Finance declined to comment.