On July 10, 2024, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) announced that it had published its whistleblowing regulations. The regulations set out protections for whistleblowers who make protected disclosures and outline obligations for organizations with regard to whistleblowing.

What disclosures are protected?

The regulations provide protections to any person who makes a 'protected disclosure,' which is defined as information relating to knowledge or reasonable suspicion that an ADGM establishment, its officer, employee, or agent has:

• contravened, or is likely to contravene, any provision of any ADGM regulations, rules, or legislation administered by any ADGM authority; or
• engaged, or is likely to engage, in money laundering, fraud, or any other financial crime.

For a disclosure to be protected, the regulations require that the information must be reported either internally within an organization, for example to a person designated to receive such disclosures, or externally to specified ADGM or UAE authorities.

What protections are available to whistleblowers?

The regulations also allow protected disclosures to be made anonymously and require all ADGM establishments to implement policies and procedures to protect a whistleblower's identity. Further, the regulations protect whistleblowers from any form of retaliation or detriment by their employer as a consequence of making a protected disclosure.

Obligations for organizations

Under the regulations, all ADGM establishments are required to, among other things:

• implement mechanisms to facilitate protected disclosures, escalate them where necessary, and protect the identity of whistleblowers;
• have written whistleblowing policies and procedures unless the entity is considered a small company; and
• maintain records related to a protected disclosure for at least six years from the date that the determination of all matters relevant to the protected disclosure are completed and closed.

Entities have until May 31, 2025, to comply with the regulations.

You can read the press release here and the regulations here.