Dubai-based family offices now control over $1 trillion in assets

By Adveith Nair

 

Dubai’s financial hub is now home to family offices that control over $1 trillion in assets, driven by the influx of high-net worth individuals over the past few years. 

“Family businesses contribute significantly to Dubai’s economy,” said Arif Aamiri, the chief executive officer of Dubai International Financial Centre Authority. “The DIFC is home to over 120 families and 800 family-related structures and entities who manage more than $1.2 trillion in assets,” he said at the Future of Finance event in the city.

 

His comments come amid a rush of firms into Dubai, and employee numbers at the financial hub have surged by two-thirds since 2019 to nearly 44,000 in June. The DIFC expects a record number of firms to set up this year too, and is building three new office towers to meet the anticipated demand. 

 

 

The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, is poised to be the top destination for relocating millionaires this year, according to a report from migration advisory firm Henley & Partners. 

 

An influx of some of the world’s biggest hedge funds, from Millennium Management to Balyasny Asset Management, has pushed the industry’s headcount in Dubai to over 1,000, Bloomberg News has reported. The DIFC is now home to 60 hedge funds and 44 billion-dollar funds, Amiri said.

 

“We are now one of the top ten locations in the world for hedge funds activity,” he said. “And based on the current trajectory, we are on track to become one of the top five in the coming years.”