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With increasing road, air and maritime transport movements, and the recent launch of a new five-year plan for the emirate’s transport industry, Dubai’s reputation as a major transport centre in the Middle East has continued to grow. In 2016 the emirate saw growth in aircraft, air passenger and air freight movement, as well as in the total number of Dubai Metro and bus system passengers, while the economic contribution from the maritime shipping segment has also increased. The emirate’s success in these and other transport and logistics-related areas over the past decade can be attributed largely to the rapid implementation of ambitious development strategies, with the Roads and Transport Authority launching 29 initiatives under the government’s smart city initiative between 2014 and 2016. This chapter contains an interview with Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, Roads and Transport Authority.

Building on its reputation as a global city, regional financial centre and showcase of smart technology, Dubai is forging an economic future based on investment in forward-thinking ideas. As part of this strategy, the emirate is set to welcome millions of visitors to Expo 2020, which is aimed at creating an international platform to foster creative thinking on development goals for the MENA region and South-east Asia. The emirate’s leaders are already looking beyond the horizon at the impact modern science and technology can play in the UAE Centennial 2071 objectives, which offer an outlook for the long-term work planned to solidify the country’s reputation as a world leader. This chapter contains an interview with Yousuf Al Shaibani, Director-General, Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.

Intense competition, low penetration rates and a strong bias towards non-life products characterises Dubai’s insurance sector, with ratings agencies agreeing that there is robust medium-term growth potential for the emirate’s underwriters. S&P Global ratings predicts 10% per annum growth in gross written premiums for the UAE insurance sector in 2017 and 2018, compared to anticipated GDP growth over the same period of 3-3.5%. AM Best, a US-based ratings agency, noted an improvement in earnings coupled with solid premium growth when it compared the performance of listed companies in 2016 to the previous year. Among the key drivers of premium growth have been new federal regulations on motor insurance, as well as the introduction of compulsory health insurance for all residents of the emirate.

A major international centre for Islamic finance, Dubai has more sukuk (Islamic bonds) listings by value than anywhere else in the world. The emirate is also home to Dubai Islamic Bank, the oldest – and third largest – fully fledged Islamic bank. The sector continues to develop rapidly, with local sharia-compliant banks registering faster growth than their conventional counterparts, although expansion could lose momentum in 2018. Efforts are under way to position Dubai as a centre for the halal economy generally and as a leader in the Islamic digital economy. This chapter contains an interview with Adnan Chilwan, Group CEO, Dubai Islamic Bank.

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, Dubai Mercantile Exchange and Nasdaq Dubai. The emirate continues to attract major international sukuk listings and all of its exchanges are in the process of expanding their product offerings, including moves into areas such as index funds and real estate investment trusts, and various new types of derivatives contracts. This chapter contains interviews with Essa Kazim, Chairman, Dubai Financial Market; Hamed Ali, CEO, Nasdaq Dubai; and Abdulfattah Sharaf, Group General Manager and CEO for the UAE, HSBC Bank Middle East.

Dubai is home to some of the Middle East’s largest banks, as well as its major financial free zone. The emirate’s financial institutions have largely recovered from a rise in non-performing loans in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and are well capitalised and liquid despite a recent rise in delinquencies in the small and medium-sized enterprise segment. A new bankruptcy law and a recently launched credit bureau are set to underpin sustainable lending growth, and segments like Islamic banking and new financial technologies, with its advancement of blockchains, are helping to drive expansion and improve access to credit. This chapter contains interviews with Khalifa Mohammed Al Kindi, Chairman, Central Bank of the UAE; Bernd van Linder, CEO, Commercial Bank of Dubai; and Abdulla Qassem, Chairman, Network International.