The Abu Dhabi global market, which opened for business last September, has signed yet another memorandum of understanding as it builds up the alliances that will make it a viable financial centre.

The new market appointed its own all-Anglo-Saxon judiciary last year and joined the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and the Basel Consultative Group of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in January. It then joined the International Organisation of Securities Commissions as an associate member in February.

The jurisdiction, which is pursuing the lofty (and some would say unrealistic) goal of rivalling Dubai, has already signed other MoUs with Jersey's Financial Services Commission (February) and the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (June).

The market also signed a mysterious agreement regarding legal and judicial matters with the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, the government authority responsible for judicial matters in the emirate, in April. The agreement is undated and contains a peculiar (and now, obviously, moribund) stipulation in clause 8: "The parties shall maintain the strict confidentiality of this memorandum and its content and annexes and the details and information exchanged between them. Neither party may, without obtaining the prior written approval of the other party, reveal this memorandum to the public."

This latest MoU is meant to facilitate co-operation over the supervision of "cross-border establishments" and the exchange of various types of regulatory information. It also aims at fostering good regulatory practice in both jurisdictions.