Responding to news that real estate agents are now prohibited from cold calling or risk a AED50,000 ($13,613, €11,709, £10,436) fine, Arlo Associates director Frank Hutchinson asked: “Is the financial services industry next?”
In the LinkedIn post, Hutchinson didn’t suggest his firm used those sales techniques but his firm is one of the largest in the region with offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Insurance Authority-approved Arlo offers retirement and pension planning, personal insurance, business protection insurance, estate and tax planning, school fees planning, asset management and private banking.
Social Media
According to local newspaper Khaleej Times, the ban on unsolicited marketing by estate agents was announced at a police seminar with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera).
It was unclear if the ban might extend to social media outlets as a form of direct marketing.
A Rera official said the ban extended to SMS and WhatsApp – a Facebook-owned messaging service.
“Direct telemarketing through SMS, calls and WhatsApp is not allowed and is a violation of the law,” Rera executive director Marwan Ahmed bin Ghalaita is quoted as saying.
“People have been called by agencies even before they advertise their properties for sale.
“Some agents have also asked property owners if they wanted to sell the properties and they were surprised these agents had their details. All these are violations,” he said.
A cold-calling ban in the UAE would be one step ahead of the UK, which has delayed a similar prohibition on its pensions industry, which has seen high profile abuse of vulnerable savers.
