UAE Cat 1, 2, 3 & 4 License Overview
We've covered the Cat 5 ("Ranking & Advice") license extensively because it's the entry point for most UAE finance careers. But the CMA (formerly SCA) has four higher categories — Cat 1 (Securities), Cat 2 (Investment), Cat 3 (Custody & Clearing), and Cat 4 (Credit Rating) — which between them cover most of what an actual financial-services industry does. This guide walks each.
Category 1 — Securities (Broker-Dealer)
Activities permitted
- Dealing in securities on own account (proprietary trading)
- Dealing as principal or agent for clients
- Market-making in listed securities
- Underwriting of new issues
- Securities promotion and placement
Capital and structure
- Minimum capital: AED 30 million
- Legal form: Public Joint Stock Company (PJSC) or equivalent
- Auditor: CMA-approved auditor required
- Compliance: dedicated compliance officer + MLRO
Who holds Cat 1
Major Cat 1 firms in the UAE include EFG Hermes UAE, Daman Securities, ADCB Securities, Mubasher Trade, FAB Securities (part of First Abu Dhabi Bank). Most are arms of major banks or international brokerages.
Roles and pay
| Role | Salary range (AED, all-in) |
|---|---|
| Junior broker / sales-trader | 250k–400k |
| Fixed income trader | 350k–700k |
| Market maker | 400k–800k |
| Head of trading desk | 700k–1.5m+ |
Additional qualifications typically expected
The CMA requires trading managers and broker representatives to hold UAE FRR + Fundamentals of Financial Services. Beyond that, for trading-floor roles employers typically expect CFA Level 1+ and often domain-specific certifications (e.g. derivatives clearing certifications for derivatives desks). Strong STEM/quantitative backgrounds are heavily preferred for prop and market-making roles.
Category 2 — Investment (Asset Management)
Activities permitted
- Discretionary portfolio management for clients
- Investment fund management (subject to additional fund-licensing rules in Ch 3)
- Non-discretionary advisory portfolio management
- Managing model portfolios distributed via platforms
Capital and structure
- Minimum capital: AED 50 million
- Legal form: PJSC or equivalent
- Custodian: client assets must be held at an independent CMA-licensed Cat 3 custodian — Cat 2 firms cannot self-custody
- Fund-management activities require additional CMA approvals under SCA Resolution 01/2023
Who holds Cat 2
Bank-owned: Mashreq Capital, Emirates NBD AM, Dubai Investments Asset Management. International arms: BlackRock UAE, Schroders UAE, Franklin Templeton, Aberdeen, ICG. Sovereign-affiliated: parts of Mubadala Investments, Investment Corporation of Dubai. Family-office discretionary arms.
Roles and pay
| Role | Salary range (AED) |
|---|---|
| Junior PM / PM analyst | 300k–500k |
| Fund analyst / equity researcher | 250k–500k |
| Senior PM | 500k–1m |
| Head of asset management / CIO | 1m–2.5m+ |
Additional qualifications expected
The CMA requires fund investment managers, portfolio managers and financial analysts to hold UAE FRR + ICWIM. Beyond that, Cat 2 careers typically require CFA Level 1 minimum at the analyst level; CFA Level 2 or 3 for PM progression; full charter for senior roles. The CISI ESG Investment Certificate is increasingly common too. Statistical/quantitative skills (Python, R, Bloomberg) are baseline for analyst roles.
Category 3 — Custody & Clearing
Activities permitted
- Holding (custody) of securities on behalf of clients
- Settlement of securities transactions
- Clearing (acting as central counterparty intermediary)
- Corporate actions processing (dividends, splits, rights)
- Transfer agency
Capital and structure
- Minimum capital: AED 50 million
- Legal form: PJSC or equivalent
- Often integrated with depository banks (Cat 3 often sits alongside banking)
- Strict independence rules: the custodian cannot be the same entity or related party of the fund manager (Ch 3)
Who holds Cat 3
Custody is dominated by international banks with UAE operations: HSBC Securities Services, Standard Chartered Custody, Deutsche Bank UAE. Plus integrated arms of Cat 1/2 firms. Less visible than trading or asset management, but operationally critical.
Roles and pay
| Role | Salary range (AED) |
|---|---|
| Settlement specialist | 200k–350k |
| Corporate actions analyst | 220k–400k |
| Fund accountant / transfer agent | 220k–450k |
| Head of operations / COO | 600k–1.2m+ |
Career notes
The CMA requires operation managers and investment-operation roles to hold UAE FRR + Global Securities Operations. Operations roles are often underappreciated but offer steadier hours than trading and strong progression to COO-level positions. International custody banks tend to promote from within and provide structured training programs.
Category 4 — Credit Rating
Activities permitted
- Issuing public credit ratings on debt instruments
- Issuer-paid and investor-paid rating activities
- Maintenance and surveillance of existing ratings
- Methodology development and rating committee processes
Capital and structure
- Minimum capital: AED 5 million (lowest of all five categories — narrower risk profile)
- Legal form: more flexible than Cat 1-3
- Independence: rating analysts must be independent of commercial functions (separation rules similar to investment-research Chinese walls in Ch 5)
Who holds Cat 4
A small population. The major international agencies (Moody's, S&P, Fitch) operate UAE branches under their own arrangements. UAE-domiciled Cat 4 firms include specialist regional agencies focused on GCC corporates and sukuk.
Roles and pay
| Role | Salary range (AED) |
|---|---|
| Junior credit analyst | 250k–400k |
| Senior credit analyst | 400k–700k |
| Lead analyst / committee chair | 700k–1.2m |
| Managing director / country head | 1m–2m+ |
Additional qualifications expected
The CMA requires credit rating analysts and heads of credit rating to hold UAE FRR + Risk in Financial Services. Beyond that, CFA at Levels 1-3 is the gold standard. Strong finance + accounting foundation, often supplemented by domain-specific knowledge (banking sector, real estate, infrastructure). Writing skills are unusually important — credit-rating reports are the analyst's primary deliverable.
Capital ladder visualised
Career flow between categories
Most UAE finance careers don't lock you into one category. Common moves:
- Cat 5 → Cat 2: wealth advisers moving into discretionary management as CFA progresses
- Cat 5 → Cat 1: IPO advisers / market-research analysts moving to trading floors
- Cat 1 ↔ Cat 2: traders moving to PM seats and vice versa (especially in fixed income)
- Cat 3 → Cat 2: operations leaders becoming COOs of asset management firms
- Cat 4 → consulting / academia: credit analysts often move to ratings methodology consulting or finance academia
What stays constant: UAE FRR, which every licensed role requires. Your second exam follows your job function, so changing role (say, from advisory to trading) can mean sitting a new second exam, whichever category the firm holds.
What about the free zones (DIFC / ADGM)?
DIFC (regulated by DFSA) and ADGM (regulated by FSRA) operate under separate frameworks. They don't use the Cat 1-5 structure — they have their own activity-based licensing regimes under common-law statutes.
If you're moving between onshore and free-zone firms, check the new regulator's competence requirements with your firm's compliance team. See our CMA explainer for the full regulator landscape.
If you're targeting a specific Cat — what to do this quarter
Cat 5 (wealth advisory)
- Pass UAE FRR plus your role's second exam: ICWIM for analyst, portfolio and promotion roles; Corporate Finance Technical Foundations for listing advisers
- Apply to independent wealth advisory firms or bank wealth divisions
Cat 1 (trading)
- Pass UAE FRR + Fundamentals of Financial Services (trading managers and broker representatives)
- Start CFA Level 1 immediately
- Target graduate schemes at EFG Hermes, Daman, ADCB Securities
- Develop quant/programming skills (Python, Bloomberg, R)
Cat 2 (asset management)
- Pass UAE FRR + ICWIM (fund and portfolio managers, financial analysts)
- CFA Level 1 (Level 2 within 2 years)
- Target bank-owned AMs and international AM UAE arms
- Build a public research-writing track record (LinkedIn posts, blog, peer publications)
Cat 3 (operations / custody)
- Pass UAE FRR + Global Securities Operations
- Consider CISI Diploma in Investment Operations
- Target HSBC SSE, Standard Chartered, integrated custody arms
Cat 4 (credit rating)
- Pass UAE FRR + Risk in Financial Services (credit rating analysts)
- CFA at all levels (specifically the FRA and Fixed Income modules)
- Target Moody's / S&P / Fitch UAE branches, plus regional GCC-focused agencies
Get the foundation in place
Whatever your role, UAE FRR is the exam every licensed role shares. We also cover the International Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management (ICWIM) and Combating Financial Crime (CFC), the second exams for advisory, portfolio and compliance roles.
Try ICWIM free → Try UAE FRR free → Try CFC free →
Cat 5 Pack £79 — ICWIM + UAE FRR.
Related guides
- UAE Cat 5 license guide — the entry-level category in detail
- UAE Financial Services Job Ladder — career arcs by category
- What is the UAE Capital Market Authority (CMA, formerly SCA)? — the regulator behind all 5 categories
- UAE Compliance Officer Career Path — applies across all categories
- UAE FRR thresholds cheat sheet — the rulebook all categories work under