{"id":105998,"date":"2025-07-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/record-number-of-firms-join-difc-in-1h\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T00:00:00","slug":"record-number-of-firms-join-difc-in-1h","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/07\/29\/record-number-of-firms-join-difc-in-1h\/","title":{"rendered":"Record number of firms join DIFC in 1H"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dubai <\/strong>International Financial Center (DIFC) logged its strongest-ever first <\/strong>half in <\/strong>2025<\/strong>, with a 25% y-o-y jump in active companies to 7.7k, according to Dubai Media Office<\/a>. The number of professionals working in DIFC rose to nearly 48k, up 9% y-o-y, while regulated entities under the Dubai Financial Services Authority climbed 17% to 980.<\/p>\n

Banking and capital markets took the top spot: <\/strong>The segment grew 17% y-o-y to 289 firms, while DIFC\u2019s wealth and asset management cluster expanded to 440 firms, up 19% y-o-y.<\/span><\/p>\n

The center is now home to more than 85 hedge funds<\/strong>, including 69 managing over USD 1 bn each, with total funds managed or marketed from DIFC now exceeding 10k. Meanwhile, ins. and reins. continued to expand, with 135 active firms and a 35% y-o-y uptick in gross written premiums to USD 3.5 bn in 2024. At the end of the period, 1.4k fintechs were operating in the DIFC \u2014 up 28% y-o-y.<\/p>\n

Who joined? <\/strong>Among the biggest new entrants in 1H: Pimco<\/a>, Cambridge Associates<\/a>, Bluecrest Capital<\/a>, ABK Capital, National Bank of Kuwait, and China International Capital Corporation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Family office activity surged: <\/strong>The number of entities linked to family businesses rose 73% y-o-y to 1k, while foundations in DIFC grew 54% to 842. This comes as an increasing number of family offices<\/a> are looking to set up shop in the UAE.<\/p>\n

SEPARATELY, IN THE CAPITAL- <\/p>\n

Activity also reached record highs in ADGM in 2024<\/strong>, with a record 272 authorized financial services providers operating in the center \u2014 up 30% y-o-y, according to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority<\/a> \u2019s (FSRA) annual report (pdf)<\/a>. The FRSA issued 77 new market authorizations and 91 in-principle approvals over the year \u2014 marking the highest y-o-y increase on record. <\/p>\n

Firms in the asset and wealth management sector continued to dominate<\/strong>, growing to 120 firms from 98 in 2023, followed by financial advisors and arrangers which climbed to 72 from 47.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The center saw a 25% y-o-y jump in active companies to 7.7k<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1691],"tags":[745,794,7,1393],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-105998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-dubai-financial-services-authority","tag-dubai-international-financial-center","tag-enterpriseam-uae","tag-finance","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"da232447-3d16-464c-9e96-071bc8c88f36","order":"6","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2025\/7\/342.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Record number of firms join DIFC in 1H","related_issue":[105988],"teaser":"The center saw a 25% y-o-y jump in active companies to 7.7k","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2025\/7\/.64c73461-60c5-45a1-927b-574879f0b673.mp3"},"yoast_head":"\nRecord number of firms join DIFC in 1H - 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