Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is to open a first-of-its-kind environment in Q1 of 2025, “driven by exponential growth and an exceptional pipeline, including from hedge fund spinouts, fund platforms and boutique asset management firms”.
In a statement announcing a range of new initiatives, it said the DIFC Funds Centre will be ideal for companies and talent that are looking to scale-up, prefer access to a flexible range of working solutions, and enjoy peer-to-peer networking. Wealth and asset management applicants are welcome join the waitlist now, with places being allocated on a first-come first-served basis.
The new centre is the latest strategic initiative designed to develop the wealth and asset management sector industry, with other recent action plans including partnerships with the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), Deal Catalyst, HFM and the Standards Board for Alternative Investments (SBAI).
Salmaan Jaffery, chief business development officer, DIFC Authority, said: “DIFC’s wealth and asset management community continues to experience rapid growth which outperforms the market and differentiates our position as the region’s preferred financial centre for the sector.
“More than 400 firms in the sector now operate from DIFC, and to support the demand from hedge fund spinouts, fund platforms and boutique asset management firms, we are delighted to launch the DIFC Funds Centre.”
DIFC further said it continues to experience an influx of wealth and asset management firms. The centre was home to 350 companies in the sector at the end of 2023 and this has rapidly grown to more than 400, outperforming the UAE financial free-zone market ten-fold. The Centre’s hedge fund ecosystem continues to boom with 60 pure play hedge funds now operating in DIFC, including 44 ‘billion-dollar club’ funds.
Recently authorised joiners include multi-strategy hedge funds, fund platforms, investment management regulatory hosting solutions and global asset managers. Company names include Allfunds, Aster Capital Management, Bluecrest, Eisler Capital (DIFC) Ltd, JNE Partners, Polen Capital Management, Principal Investor Management (DIFC) Limited, TCW Investments, Tudor Capital and Westbeck.
A report by LSEG report has recently outlined the latest trends in the global wealth and asset management landscape, with the UAE emerging as a notable booking centre, witnessing 9% growth in AUM, higher than any other booking centre in 2023.
The report highlights how DIFC is benefitting from wealth inflows into Dubai and the wider region, including as a growing number of millionaires, centi-millionaires, family offices and prominent financial players. Dubai is home to 62 per cent of these HNWIs. The UAE is forecast to see the largest net gain of millionaires, welcoming a further 6,700 in 2024.
The city was also characterised as a stable, business-friendly location accessing over 40 regional sovereigns, including Dubai’s own the Investment Corporation of Dubai and Dubai Investment Fund. Clients can also tap into $3.5trn worth of private capital pools, since Dubai is capital of private capital – the city is home to region’s highest concentration of wealth.
