How the UAE benefits from its central role in Brics' payment web

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

THIS MORNING: Airtel Money and Lindt steer clear of the UAE as EQT and Alibaba lean in

Good morning, ladies and gents. The thread in today’s issue: The UAE is still actively building its case for being the region’s go-to hub — for payments, headquarters, and investments — even as the war makes some companies think twice.

Our big story today looks at what came out of the New Delhi Brics summit. There’s no common payment system on the horizon. Instead, the bloc is settling for a web of bilateral payment links, and the UAE is at the center of it. Being at the center carries risk, though, and US sanctions enforcement shows how fine the line is for the UAE’s banks.

The UAE’s financial offering keeps growing, too. DMCC has formally established a new foundations regime for families looking to pass wealth down through the generations.

Meanwhile, Swedish private-markets giant EQT has launched its Middle East platform out of ADGM, and Alibaba plans to expand its data center footprint here, even as one of AWS’ UAE zones is still offline after March’s strike.

Not everyone is sticking around, though. Airtel Money is taking its IPO to London instead of the UAE, and Lindt has put its Dubai House of Chocolate on ice, both citing the regional unrest.

We’re honored to have Ahmed Ali Abdelrahman join us as a guest speaker at the 2026 EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum — the AI edition.

Ahmed Ali Abdelrahman is a private equity and investment banking executive with over 30 years of experience across Egypt and the GCC, with a track record spanning deal origination, IPO and M&A execution, and building direct-investment platforms from the ground up. He currently serves as Managing Director and CEO of Post For Investment (PFI), where he oversees a c. EGP 17 bn (USD 340 mn) direct-investment portfolio and structured the firm’s first landmark exit in 2024. Previously, as Group Deputy CEO and CIO of Beltone Financial, he launched three new lending verticals, building an aggregate portfolio of EGP 2 bn within three years.

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Advantage London

Airtel Money picks London over the UAE for listing: Airtel Africa’s mobile-money arm Airtel Money plans to float its shares on the London Stock Exchange, according to a statement (pdf) from the company, a year after it secured the go-ahead to list in the UAE. The offer will be made up entirely of existing shares sold by current shareholders, with a freefloat of at least 10%. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed on as a cornerstone investor for up to GBP 67.2 mn (USD 90 mn) of shares.

The offering could raise around USD 800 mn, giving Airtel Money a market cap of USD 8-9 bn, the Financial Times reports, citing an anonymous source. That’s below the USD 1.5-2 bn raise previously expected. The prospectus is due in early October, with pricing in mid-October.

BACKGROUND- Last November, the fintech secured a regulatory waiver from the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority to pursue a UAE listing. At the time, bankers said the IPO would likely hinge on landing a heavyweight Emirati cornerstone investor, which would have decided whether it listed on the DFM or ADX. The cornerstone it eventually landed is the IFC. A UAE debut would have been the country’s first African equity listing.

So why London? Airtel Africa weighed a Middle East listing but chose London partly because of unrest in the region, according to the Financial Times. Airtel Africa CEO Sunil Taldar also cited London’s emerging-market investor base and its familiarity with fintech and payments. Airtel Africa itself has been listed in London since 2019.

There’s still a UAE link: Airtel Money splits its global headquarters and strategy team between the Netherlands and Dubai. Emirates NBD Capital and First Abu Dhabi Bank are among the joint bookrunners.

REMEMBER- Listings at home have been drying up, with no UAE IPOs so far this year and Gulf banks that built out IPO teams during the boom now chasing fees in Egypt, Turkey, and India.

EQT sets up shop in the capital

EQT plants its flag in ADGM: Swedish private-markets giant EQT, which manages USD 389 bn in assets, launched its Middle East platform out of an ADGM office, according to a statement. The Abu Dhabi office is the first of what EQT expects to become a broader regional platform across the GCC over time.

What it’ll do: The platform will invest across private equity and infrastructure. It will work more closely with EQT portfolio companies that already operate in the region, including Nord Anglia Education, Virtusa, Banking Circle, Nothing, and SAUR. It will also hunt for new transactions in sectors tied to the GCC’s national agendas, including healthcare, education, digital and AI infrastructure, industrials, and the energy transition.

Who’s running it: Jimmy Mahtani (LinkedIn) has been named GCC chairman, on top of his existing role as chairman of India and Southeast Asia for EQT Private Capital. Smiyet Belrhit (LinkedIn) will lead the Abu Dhabi office.

REMEMBER- EQT joins a growing list: Since the regional conflict began, ADGM has pulled in Man Group, Capital Group, Rokos Capital Management, Bain Capital, and Hillhouse Investment, among others. That momentum showed up in this year’s Global Financial Centers Index, where Abu Dhabi climbed eight places to 13th globally.

Big tech is here to stay

Microsoft is investing USD 2 bn for cloud computing, AI, and data center operations in Gulf nations, Bloomberg reports. It will mobilize USD 10 bn through 2030 and strengthen its partnerships with national tech companies in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, the company said, while name-checking the UAE’s G42 and government service platform Tamm in a blog post. The investment — which includes a USD 8 bn commitment in the Emirates last year — will focus directly on cybersecurity and resilience.

That’s not all: The tech giant’s investment includes USD 400 mn for a multi-path, high-capacity network of subsea cables, which aims to bypass disruptions with minimal latency.

Alibaba eyes more data centers

Alibaba builds as AWS rebuilds: Alibaba will expand its data center footprint in the UAE as part of a push into Europe and the Middle East, Alibaba Cloud CTO Li Feifei was quoted as saying by Bloomberg at the company’s Apsara conference in Hangzhou yesterday. The UAE is on the expansion list alongside Malaysia, Germany, France, and Hong Kong. The e-commerce giant will open its first cloud regions in Turkey, Finland, and the Netherlands over the next 12 months. No figures or timeline were given for the UAE expansion.

The bigger picture: The expansion feeds Alibaba’s plan to build a 20 GW global data center network by 2032, which Citi estimates could generate more than USD 160 bn in external cloud revenue. It also puts Alibaba in more direct competition with Amazon and Alphabet outside Asia, just as Washington pushes other countries to favor US technology over Chinese alternatives.

Meanwhile, AWS is still digging out: One of AWS’ three data-hosting zones in the UAE remains offline after it was damaged in the early months of the regional conflict. The facility was struck in March, taking down its core S3 storage services and others that businesses relied on for operations, websites, and apps. AWS still can’t access the data stored there but has helped clients restart operations elsewhere, with another update expected in the coming months.

WHY IT MATTERS- Experts told us in March that the strike had added an element of risk and uncertainty to a region hosting significant AI infrastructure. A major cloud provider adding UAE capacity after that suggests the risk hasn’t scared everyone off. How much Alibaba actually builds here will be the real test.

SPEAKING OF- Fact-check time: Amazon has denied reports that it is relocating regional operations from the UAE to Turkey, calling them inaccurate and telling Arabian Business it is still investing in both countries, which it sees as priority markets. The claim came from Turkish business daily Ekonomim earlier this week and was picked up by other Turkish outlets. AWS has run a full cloud region in the UAE since 2022, backed by a pledge to invest more than USD 5 bn here through 2036.

No House of Chocolate for Dubai, for now

Lindt puts its Dubai flagship on ice: Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli has shelved plans for a Dubai outpost of its House of Chocolate, a combined museum and store, citing the “current geopolitical situation in the Middle East,” Bloomberg reports. The store was slated to open in 2H 2028, though ground had yet to be broken. Chairman Ernst Tanner had said it took two years to reach an agreement with the government.

Why it matters: Lindt is already feeling the travel slowdown. The company flagged in July that thinner passenger traffic through the UAE’s two main hubs was weighing on its travel-retail sales, while adding that the region is still an important market and it will revisit the project once the situation changes.

Off the boil, not out of the woods

Dubai’s housing boom has stalled, but the city still sits in UBS’ elevated bubble-risk category, according to the investment bank’s Global Real Estate Bubble Index 2026 (pdf). Dubai scored 1.16, up from 1.09 last year, placing it fourth among 23 cities surveyed, though UBS says risk has eased since March. Inflation-adjusted home prices rose just 0.4% y-o-y in 2Q, while real rents fell 4%, with prices retreating to mid-2025 levels.

Still, buying beats renting: Despite the elevated risk, Dubai remains one of the more accessible housing markets in UBS’ study. A skilled service worker would need around five years of income to buy a 60-sqm apartment near the city center, while the purchase price of an equivalent home amounts to roughly 16 years of rent, tied with Miami and São Paulo for the shortest among the cities covered. UBS says buying remains relatively attractive compared to renting, even with elevated mortgage rates. The catch? Uncertainty over the return of high-income residents and a large development pipeline could keep prices volatile.

IN CONTEXT- Last year’s index saw Dubai rise to fifth place, as we reported in September 2025, after real home prices climbed more than 50% over five years. That supply risk is now playing out unevenly: our July deep dive found that record handovers were pushing down values in supply-heavy communities, while locations with limited new stock held up better.

PSA

WEATHER- Temperatures will hit 40°C today in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with lows reaching 29°C, according to our favorite weather app.

Happening today

#1- The ADX Group’s annual Global Investor Roadshow and Conference kicks off in New York today and runs through tomorrow, held with Morgan Stanley, according to a statement (pdf). ADX Chairman Ghannam Butti Almazrouei and Group CEO Abdulla Salem Alnuaimi are leading a delegation of senior management and investor relations officers from 14 ADX-listed companies, spanning energy, financials, real estate, consumer discretionary, telecoms, and basic materials. The lineup includes Adnoc Gas, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Aldar, e&, and Borouge.

The goal? Putting investors in the room with management so they can dig into each company's fundamentals and competitive positioning, as part of ADX’s push to court institutional money across global financial centers.

#2- EFG Hermes’ 12th Annual London Investor Conference wraps up today at Emirates Stadium, closing out four days, according to a statement (pdf). This year’s edition brought 125 listed companies from seven MENA countries face-to-face with more than 830 guests, including over 420 investors from 181 institutions.

What’s on the table: The conference runs on one-on-one and group meetings between investors and company management, alongside thought-leadership sessions. Discussions cover high-growth sectors, liquidity and capital allocation, regulatory developments, ESG-driven value creation, macroeconomic resilience, and how geopolitical developments are hitting regional markets.

The big story abroad

The US and China have extended the truce in their trade war by two months to 10 January, as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for his first stateside visit in 11 years for a three-day summit. Initially set to expire in November, the one-year truce, which will give the two sides more time to negotiate, involves maintaining a suspension of select US tariffs in exchange for Beijing’s continued supply of rare earth minerals.

Regional war severs travel routes: Oman and Azerbaijan suspended all Iranian airline flights into their countries after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that all Iranian airlines would be shut down worldwide starting Wednesday. Meanwhile, Iraq has banned Iranian flights to its capital Baghdad after Washington imposed sanctions on services provided to Iran’s aviation sector.

More disquiet over AI safety: An AI agent developed by OpenAI breached an Australian government-run health ‌data portal in June, increasing concerns over the technology’s safety and the possibility of going rogue. While the startup acknowledged that its models took unintended actions affecting multiple government websites and online services, it found no evidence of patient records being accessed.

Another disappointment for OpenAI: The 2024 move to integrate ChatGPT into iPhones “dramatically underperformed,” with OpenAI expressing disappointment over the surprisingly low user engagement with the AI features, legal filings by the startup show. The development follows a tense trade standoff since the iPhone maker accused OpenAI of large-scale trade secret theft.

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Why UAE gains from Brics’ bilateral payments push, even if it stays a “cross-web” rather than a bloc-wide network

For all the talk of “Brics Pay,” the New Delhi summit earlier this month made clear that the bloc’s alternative to the USD system will be a patchwork, not a platform. Progress in reducing reliance on the USD in trade with Brics members is real, but it’s happening through a “cross-web” of bilateral payment corridors as opposed to a bloc-wide network, Kenneth Stibler, founder and director of the Center for Emerging Economies, tells EnterpriseAM. The good news: The UAE sits in the middle of it.

What happened at the summit: The New Delhi Declaration dropped any mention of a common Brics currency or a formal effort to replace the USD. Instead, it backs interoperable payment systems and trade settled in local currencies, and it stresses that members have divergent national priorities with no “one-size-fits-all approach.” It names no preferred messaging standard or clearing house, which leaves room for bilateral links between systems already running in the larger member economies.

One bloc, four agendas

The Brics bloc can be divided into four camps, Stibler tells us, each with its own reason to want alternatives to the USD:

Russia and Iran see the effort as “a survival network” against sanctions;
China cares about sovereignty from a geoeconomic angle;
India and the Gulf want lower costs, cutting out an expensive US correspondent banking system;
and countries with chronic USD shortages, such as Egypt and Ethiopia, see it as a practical way to ease that shortfall.

Because those goals don’t line up, the real work happens bilaterally. Bilateral channels have multiplied across the bloc, especially since Western sanctions hit Russia in 2022. Around 96% of India-Russia trade now settles through INR-RUB arrangements, according to Sberbank’s head in India, and almost all Russia-China trade is settled in CNY and RUB. Elsewhere, Russia and Iran have been linking their Mir and Shetab card systems in stages; China and Brazil agreed in 2023 to settle trade in CNY and BRL; and the Reserve Bank of India has approved 156 special INR accounts for 123 correspondent banks from 30 countries. Much of this is driven by sanctions, not efficiency.

The UAE’s corridors fall into the cost-cutting camp, where even small savings add up. The UAE’s non-oil trade with Brics members topped USD 312 bn in 2025, up 28.5% from USD 243 bn a year earlier, accounting for roughly 31% of the country’s total non-oil foreign trade. Today, a payment between the UAE and India can pass through two correspondent banks, each taking a cut.

With India, the framework is in place but usage is thin: The Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) signed a local currency settlement MoU in July 2023. Take-up since has been slow — around 15% of trade between India and the UAE successfully bypasses the USD and is invoiced in local currencies. The plumbing is still expanding: in May, Aani operator Al Etihad Payments picked Montran to build an international gateway, starting with a link to India’s Unified Payments Interface, designed so that each new corridor doesn’t need its own bespoke integration.

With China, the links are more advanced. The UAE made its first cross-border digital AED payment to China via mBridge in January 2024. Last November, it launched the Jisr CBDC platform with a live payment to China, linked its instant payment system to China’s for 24/7 transfers, and rolled out a co-branded Jaywan-UnionPay prepaid card. More central banks are expected to join Jisr this year.

Why the UAE sits at the center: The UAE’s corridors connect to each other. Domestic card scheme Jaywan was built on India’s RuPay technology and now carries a co-branded card with China’s UnionPay, and Aani’s new gateway is designed as a hub that each new corridor plugs into.

The AED also works as a bridge currency: Because the AED is pegged to the USD, the UAE acts as “a source of USD liquidity into this broader system,” Stibler says, so it doesn’t end up holding currencies it can’t use. That’s why Indian refiners have paid for Russian oil in AED rather than INR. And trade already flows through it: Brics members took 28% of the UAE’s re-exports last year. “The UAE benefits from being the center of this network as opposed to being one equal member in a broader de-dollarized ecosystem,” Stibler says.

Where the technology stands

The most finished piece of alternative payment infrastructure sits outside Brics altogether. That is mBridge, the multi-central bank digital currency platform. The Bank for International Settlements led mBridge until it stepped back in October 2024, as we covered at the time. It remains in pilot with no commercial launch date.

Saudi Arabia has stepped back. The Saudi Central Bank told the Financial Times it completed its mBridge proof of concept in May 2025 and has not been a participating member since, though a second source told the paper that Riyadh still engages with the platform more discreetly. The CBUAE, a founding member, remains an active participant alongside the central banks of China, Thailand, Mongolia, Macau, and Hong Kong. While it’s unclear why the Kingdom stepped back, it could be a sign of “some pressure behind the scenes,” Stibler says, pointing to the US’ tariff threats against countries that work with a rival currency — something “very few countries actually want to [manage].”

The problem is geopolitical, not technological. The UAE’s Aani “is based on modern ISO 20022 payment standards” and “should not be overly challenging to integrate into a multilateral payment system,” Nick Maynard, VP of Research at Juniper Research, tells us. Across the bloc, though, he rates readiness as “generally low,” since not every member uses ISO 20022 and sanctions complicate things. Ultimately, “the barrier to success or failure with a lot of these is not a function of the technologies themselves,” Stibler says. The real question is less “whether countries can send a payment message” than “whether they can make binding multilateral commitments around it,” he said in written comments.

Banks set the speed limit

US enforcement against Iran-linked banking in the UAE has stepped up since late August, when the Treasury launched Operation Economic Outcast to cut off Iran’s remaining financial lifelines. Days later, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed cutting Banque Misr’s UAE branches off from US correspondent banking, estimating they processed about USD 1.8 bn for 103 companies potentially linked to Iranian shadow banking networks. The Office of Foreign Assets Control also sanctioned the manager of Iran’s Bank Melli’s Dubai branch. This week, the CBUAE barred Bank Melli, Iran’s biggest lender, from trade finance and fund transfers, following the UAE’s decision last month to sever trade and financial ties with Iran.

Enforcement actions like these have “a chilling effect on any appetite to tie into something where Iran would be a counterparty,” Stibler says, making any bloc-wide system with Iran as a member a hard sell to Emirati banks — at least for now.

Crypto and fintech aren’t a way around that

Maynard sees an opening for the UAE as a DeFi hub, noting that “Russia has already extensively used cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions.” Stibler sees limitations to that: crypto “still has the type of KYC requirements and sanctions exposure,” and 2026 “has proven that pretty substantially, that you cannot rely on a Tether, for example.” The UAE has been drawing its own lines on digital assets.

A Financial Times investigation published this week shows the limits of those workarounds. A7, a Russian payments fintech backed by sanctioned state lender Promsvyazbank, used front companies and forged invoices to move some USD 6.9 bn through global banks, including Standard Chartered, Citigroup, and JPMorgan. When Standard Chartered began holding payments, A7 moved more of its activity to the UAE, where 17 entities with First Abu Dhabi Bank accounts made more than USD 1.8 bn in outbound payments. The scheme also sold bns of USD in Tether to Russian buyers. FAB told the salmon-colored paper that all A7-linked accounts it identified have been closed and that it applies US, UK, EU, and UN sanctions.

Why a patchwork may be better

A real multilateral system would need rules on FX conversion, liquidity, clearing, final settlement, data sharing, sanctions screening, and dispute resolution, Stibler says. Each requires members to give up sovereignty, “something that at a fundamental DNA level, these are not the group of countries that want to,” he says.

The patchwork also leaves no single target. He argues that a bilateral network is “a lot more durable and flexible as the world changes” than one consolidated system that would “give one clean target” to anyone who wants to go after a parallel financial system. Maynard makes a related point: recent events have made governments everywhere keener to control payment systems that “cannot be switched off or interfered with.”

What to watch

The real test is whether businesses actually use the rails. “You can put the infrastructure together,” Stibler says, but the test is whether “that marginal exporter, that marginal financial actor” moves over. He will be watching whether UAE-India trade beyond easy flows like oil starts settling in local currencies, and whether USD settlement shrinks “towards just what’s required.” That’s hard, he says, because for many traders the cost of the USD system “almost feels like the convenience fee.”

Don’t expect fast results. Stibler expects change to be material over roughly five years and non-linear, with slow gains until a tipping point. In the meantime, he thinks the UAE is doing this “the right way, cautiously.”

DMCC joins Dubai’s family wealth race with new foundations regime

DMCC wants a bigger slice of Dubai’s family wealth business: The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) formally established its Foundations Regulations, giving high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and entrepreneurs a new regulatory structure to hold, manage, and pass on assets across generations, according to a statement. The move follows plans first announced in June and expands DMCC’s offering beyond holding companies and special purpose vehicles (SPVs).

Uh, Enterprise, what’s a foundation? Under DMCC’s regulations, a foundation is separate from the founder who sets it up, the councillors who run it, the guardian who oversees it, and the beneficiaries who benefit from it. Unlike a conventional holding company, it’s built around long-term ownership and succession, so families can set out in advance how their wealth is managed and who benefits when control passes to the next generation.

How much control does the founder keep? Under the new framework, founders can set rules covering beneficiaries, asset distributions, governance, and decision-making while reserving certain powers over investments and appointments for themselves or designated individuals. Foundations can be established with initial assets starting at USD 100 — although that’s the starting asset amount, not the registration fee.

DMCC has been laying the groundwork for a while: We reported last year that DMCC introduced SPV and holding company licenses, allowing investors to hold assets and consolidate ownership without a physical office. It followed that with the launch of its Wealth Hub in September last year, bringing together family offices, investors, and specialist advisers, and FinX in November, connecting members with capital markets and trade finance professionals. Foundations add a dedicated regulatory structure for managing how those assets are governed and passed down.

Why it matters

Dubai’s wealth-structuring market is getting more crowded — and the demand is there. The Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) already had 1.4k registered foundations at the end of 1H 2026, up 67% y-o-y, according to the financial hub’s latest figures. It also scrapped eligibility restrictions on its separate prescribed company structure in August, opening another asset-holding option to international investors. DMCC’s entry gives families another Dubai-based option for structuring ownership and succession as the emirate expands its offering for private capital.

Not quite open for business yet: DMCC is still finalizing guidance on establishing and administering foundations, alongside a digital onboarding process. Both are expected to launch in the coming weeks, with prospective applicants currently able to register their interest.

UAE-based proptech Huspy acquires Italian credit intermediary Integra Finance

Huspy heads to Italy

UAE-founded proptech and mortgage platform Huspy bought Italian credit intermediary Integra Finance for an undisclosed sum, according to a statement. The acquisition marks Huspy’s entry into Italy, its fourth market after the UAE, Spain, and Saudi Arabia, where it plans to invest USD 86 mn (AED 315 mn). Integra brings more than 160 advisors and over 50 banking, financial, and ins. partners, which Huspy plans to plug into its AI platform for agents and brokers.

IN CONTEXT- It's been a busy month: The Integra acquisition comes just over a week after Huspy bought Dubai luxury brokerage LuxuryX ahead of launching luxury offering Huspy Signature. At the time, Huspy said it facilitates around USD 1 bn in transactions a month and handles about a quarter of the UAE’s residential mortgages. Integra is Huspy’s fifth credit intermediation acquisition, after Home Matters, Just Mortgages, and Finance Lab in the UAE in 2022, and Mortgage Direct in Spain in 2023. The company plans further expansion across Europe and MENA through 2027.

Middle East investors will invest more at home, BlackRock says

The Middle East wants to put more of its capital to work at home — but it’s still mostly investing abroad. The region’s investors completed around 360 private equity and venture capital transactions overseas in 2025 against about 170 at home, according to BlackRock Aladdin’s new Market Evolution: The Middle East report (pdf), which draws on Preqin data through June 2026. That gap has narrowed since 2021, but mainly because overseas transactions fell, not because domestic ones grew.

That’s the gap BlackRock expects to close: The report finds limited evidence of sustained growth in domestic private equity and venture capital transactions by Middle East-based investors since 2021, but BlackRock says the region is shifting from a source of capital for global managers to a destination. Its analysis suggests that, at the margin, the USD 50-100 bn of capital that might previously have left the region could stay home, Ben Powell, chief investment strategist for the Middle East and APAC at the BlackRock Investment Institute, told reporters at a Dubai roundtable. The GCC will remain a significant capital exporter, he said, but more of it is likely to stay in the region.

The war is accelerating that shift: BlackRock sees the GCC deploying USD 2.1 tn in capex through 2030, with a growing share staying home, as we noted earlier this month. More than 80% of that is headed to energy infrastructure, industry, digital assets, and social investment as Gulf states prioritize resilience after the war disrupted shipping routes from the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea.

PIF is leading the way: The Middle East’s share of Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund’s direct private equity transactions rose from around 25% in 2020 to just under 70% in 2025. It has also anchored regional vehicles, including Brookfield Middle East Partners, which reached a first close of approximately USD 2 bn in July and targets 50% of its investments in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia dominates fund formation: Of the 590 Middle East-based private capital funds closed since 2015, 359 (61%) were based in the Kingdom, against the UAE’s 143. Regional private equity funds have raised USD 4.5 bn so far this year, already above 2025’s USD 3.5 bn, while real estate fundraising collapsed from USD 4.2 bn in 2021 to USD 100 mn last year. Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and the remaining markets accounted for a combined 88, according to Preqin. Total regional fundraising stood at USD 4.5 bn in 2025, below its USD 7.7 bn peak in 2021.

But deployment at home has slowed this year: Middle East private capital investment dropped 73% y-o-y to USD 1.7 bn in 1H 2026, its lowest half-year total on record, according to Global Private Capital Association data we covered earlier this month.

The UAE is also investing big at home and abroad: BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings partnered with the UAE’s L’imad Holding and Adnoc in May on a USD 30 bn fund targeting GCC and Central Asian infrastructure.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets were in the green earlier today, with Japan’s Nikkei up 1.7% and South Korea’s Kospi following at 0.9%. The gains followed losses across US equities, while benchmark 10-year Treasury yields surged to their highest level since 2007.

ADX	10,269	+0.4% (YTD: +2.8%)
DFM	6,008	+0.2% (YTD: -0.7%)
Nasdaq Dubai UAE20	4,988	+1% (YTD: +2%)
USD : AED CBUAE	Buy 3.67	Sell 3.67
EIBOR	3.6% o/n	5% 1 yr
TASI	10,681	+0.0% (YTD: +1.8%)
EGX30	54,225	-1.3% (YTD: +29.6%)
S&P 500	7,706	-0.8% (YTD: +12.6%)
FTSE 100	10,705	+0.0% (YTD: +8.8%)
Euro Stoxx 50	6,300	-0.4% (YTD: +8.7%)
Brent crude	USD 103.08	+3.9%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 3.04	+0.6%
Gold	USD 4,323	+0.1%
BTC	USD 84,395	-2.1% (YTD: -3.7%)
Lunate JP Morgan UAE Bond UCITS ETF	AED 3.55	-1.1% (YTD: -0.1%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	149.46	+0.1% (YTD: -1.6%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	15.18	+6.8% (YTD: +1.5%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The DFM rose 0.2% yesterday on turnover of AED 693 mn. The index is down 0.7% YTD.

In the green: Al Ramz Corporation Investment and Development (+14%), International Financial Advisors (+3.5%), and Shuaa Capital (+3.1%).

In the red: Dubai Islamic Ins. and Reinsurance Co. (-2.2%), Drake & Scull International (-1.9%), and Taaleem Holdings (-1.5%).

Over on the ADX, the index rose 0.4% on turnover of AED 2.2 bn. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Dubai rose 1%.

CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER

22-24 September (Tuesday-Thursday): Seamless Middle East, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

26 September–1 October (Saturday–Thursday): 15th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Adnec Centre, Abu Dhabi.

28-29 September (Monday-Tuesday): Al Ain Future Business Forum, Adnec, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi.

29-30 September (Tuesday-Wednesday): AFCM Annual Conference, Abu Dhabi.

OCTOBER

1-2 October (Thursday-Friday): MEIRA Annual Conference, Atlantis the Royal, Dubai.

4-10 October (Sunday-Saturday): World Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

5-7 October (Monday-Wednesday): AI Everything Global, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

12-14 October (Monday-Wednesday): Airport Show, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

14-15 October (Wednesday-Thursday): Sharjah Investment Forum, Jawaher Reception and Convention Center, Sharjah.

13-15 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Annual Meeting of Global Future Leaders, Dubai.

20-22 October (Tuesday-Thursday): Future Health Summit, Adnec Center Abu Dhabi.

21 October (Wednesday): Reuters NEXT Gulf, St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Arab Competition Forum, Dubai.

27-28 October (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

30 October (Friday): Large businesses achieving annual revenues equal to or above AED 50 mn must appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation.

Signposted to happen sometime in October 2026:

Abu Dhabi Space Week, Abu Dhabi.

NOVEMBER

2-5 November (Monday-Thursday): Adipec, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

2-6 November (Monday-Friday): Dubai Future Finance Week, Dubai.

4 November (Wednesday): Digital Transformation Summit, Sofitel, Abu Dhabi.

9-10 November (Monday-Tuesday): Annual government meetings, Abu Dhabi.

9-12 November (Monday-Thursday): EMEA Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education Conference, Dubai College of Tourism, Dubai.

9-13 November (Monday-Friday): World Congress of Military Medicine, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

10-12 November (Tuesday-Thursday): Dubai International Electric Vehicle Exhibition & Conference, Dubai World Trade Center.

16-18 November (Monday-Wednesday): World Police Summit, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.

18-19 November (Wednesday-Thursday): Touchdown Middle East 2026, Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi.

25-26 November (Saturday-Sunday): Doers Summit, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai.

DECEMBER

2-4 December (Wednesday-Friday): UN Water Conference, UAE.

4-6 December (Friday-Sunday): Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Capital Market Summit, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.

8-9 December (Tuesday-Wednesday): Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

7-10 December (Monday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi.

8-10 December (Tuesday-Thursday): Abu Dhabi Water & Power Week, Adnec Center, Abu Dhabi.

8-10 December (Tuesday-Thursday) Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association Show, DWC, Dubai Airshow Site.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2027:

1 January: Deadline for large businesses to implement e-invoicing;
1Q 2027: Completion of the first phase of Hassyan seawater desalination project;
1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): World Governments Summit;
31 March: Small businesses with annual revenues of less than AED 50 mn are obliged to contract with an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation;
31 March: Government entities are required to appoint an accredited service provider for e-invoicing implementation;
21-22 April (Wednesday-Thursday): Token2049, Dubai;
31 May-2 June (Monday-Wednesday): RailX Dubai, Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai.
1 July: Deadline for small businesses to implement e-invoicing;
1 October: Deadline for governments to implement e-invoicing;
Abu Dhabi’s solar and battery energy facility, combining 5.2 GW of solar capacity and 19 GWh of battery storage, is set for commissioning.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2028:

Artificial Intelligence Summit.

Signposted to happen sometime in 2029:

Sibos 2029 organized by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), Dubai;
Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, Abu Dhabi;
The commissioning of the seventh phase of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

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