UAE: Dubai Financial Services

Capital markets in Dubai are spread across multiple exchanges, each with an emphasis on a different asset class. With this structure established and still growing, the aim is to boost activity in all asset classes, and to create an overall offering with the breadth and depth to rival major global financial centres.

With some analysts suggesting that the 2017-20 period could see as much as $480bn in combined government expenditure across the GCC – with $288bn of that to be spent in transport and infrastructure projects alone – the region clearly maintains a considerable appetite for major capital investment.

Dubai’s capital markets are seeing innovation in a range of spheres, witnessing the launch of new fundbased products on its primary exchanges, as well as new types of futures contracts on both Nasdaq Dubai and the emirate’s derivatives-focused exchanges.

Dubai is home to a domestic stock exchange, an international market with one of the largest concentration of sukuk (Islamic bonds) in the world, as well as equity futures and three derivatives platform operators: the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) and Nasdaq Dubai. The emirate continues to attract...

With some analysts suggesting that the 2017-20 period could see as much as $480bn in combined government expenditure across the GCC – with $288bn of that to be spent in transport and infrastructure projects alone – the region clearly maintains a considerable appetite for major capital investment.

A major international centre for Islamic finance, Dubai has more sukuk (Islamic bond) listings by value than anywhere else in the world. The emirate is also home to Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the oldest – and third-largest – fully fledged Islamic bank. The sector continues to develop rapidly, with local sharia-compliant banks registering...