Dubai's financial hub announces three new initiatives to cement global status
Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has announced three new strategic initiatives as part of plans to cement its global status as a competitive business destination.
DIFC’s three initiatives focus on attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), particularly from south-east Asia, enabling Dubai Government entities to complete financial services within DIFC, and facilitating the provision of financial products through Dubai.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and chairman of the Executive Council, has assigned the Council to oversee the execution and delivery of these initiatives.
Essa Kazim, governor of DIFC and chairman of the DIFC Authority, said: “Today we are at an intersection point in Dubai’s history, not only as a global economic centre, but also given the strong foundations it has built for a sustainable economy.
"The initiatives we launched at DIFC are primarily focused on strengthening our financial platform and offering the necessary legal and regulatory framework to facilitate the flow of investments and financial services and products through Dubai.”
One of the initiatives aims to attract more FDI, particularly from south-east Asia, through Dubai while also aiming to cement Dubai’s role as a strategic centre for China’s Belt and Road initiative.
The move comes as registered Chinese financial institutions in DIFC continued to report growth in 2017, where the total value of their assets reached $33.4 billion.
DIFC is also home to China’s four largest banks in terms of total assets - Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, ICBC and China Construction Bank Corporation.
The new initiative also aim at offering the necessary regulatory and legal framework to enable government and semi-government entities to complete all activities relating to financial services, including deposits, IPOs, and mergers and acquisitions, from within DIFC.
DIFC’s third initiative aims at facilitating the provision of financial products from Dubai to local and regional markets, by coordinating with local and federal regulatory bodies. This is expected to increase financial investments in Dubai and boost Dubai’s wealth management capabilities, with 195 wealth and assets management firms currently operating from DIFC.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has recently enacted two new DIFC-related laws - the Trust Law and Foundations Law - to improve and expand DIFC’s private wealth management and succession planning platforms.
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