Both get a UAE precious-metals firm to a working AML framework. They differ in price, speed, and what you own at the end. Here is the comparison the sales pages on both sides won't give you.
When a precious-metals firm "gets compliant," the deliverable is the same regardless of who provides it: a written AML/CFT framework — the policy manual, the due-diligence and reporting procedures, the risk assessment, the MLRO governance pack, staff training, the records discipline — adopted by management and operated by the firm. An inspector doesn't ask who wrote it. They ask whether it exists, whether it fits your firm, and whether you operate it.
That's why this comparison is possible at all: the product is the framework. The question is how you want it produced.
| A compliance consultancy | The Assay Starter Kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | AED 50,000–90,000 is the typical engagement range | €899 flat (≈ AED 3,600), one-time |
| Timeline | Several weeks of meetings and drafts | ~48 hours, customised to your firm |
| What you get | A tailored framework, delivered through an engagement | 28 documents — the same framework categories, customised to your profile, fully editable, yours |
| Built for | Whatever the consultant serves that month | DMCC-licensed precious-metals dealers specifically — DPMSR triggers, supply-chain due diligence, the gold trade's red flags. |
| Updates | Re-engage (and re-pay) when the law moves | 12 months of updates included — when the framework changes, the affected documents are re-issued |
| Ongoing advice | Yes — that's the retainer | No — it's a product, not a relationship |
| Regulatory representation | Some firms will face an inspector with you | No — the kit prepares you; you operate it |
| Review | Varies | Drafted against the cited law; you have it reviewed by a UAE-qualified professional before relying on it — we say that on every page |
Honestly: sometimes. If your firm has unusual complexity — multi-jurisdiction structures, an open finding from a regulator, a banking relationship already in remediation — you want a human professional engaged on your specific facts. If you need someone to stand in the room during an inspection, that's a service a document kit doesn't provide. And if your budget genuinely doesn't notice AED 70,000, a good consultancy is a fine way to buy back your own time.
What a consultant should not be needed for is the thing most firms actually buy: producing the standard framework every precious-metals firm must have. That's a templating problem with firm-specific variables — exactly what the kit does, at product price.
The H1 2025 enforcement round fined precious-metals traders AED 20 million across 473 violations. Set against that: the consultant route costs 14–25× the kit for the same core deliverable. The honest risk decision isn't kit or consultant — it's framework now versus framework later. Both options beat waiting; one of them costs less than the fine schedule's smallest line item.
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