DIFC gets stronger in 2010
The Dubai Financial Centre (DIFC) reported a strong performance throughout 2010. Highlights included the number of active registered companies operating from the DIFC continuing to grow throughout the year to reach 792 at the end of December 2010; a total of 113 companies registered in 2010, with 52% of new companies coming from North America and Europe, and 45% from Middle East and Asia.
The DIFC is also home place to eight of the world’s largest asset managers, 16 of the world’s top 20 banks, and four of the world’s five largest insurers. A number of the new companies establishing a presence in the DIFC are first-time entrants into the region
Current clients using the DIFC platform continued to expand their regional footprint, and a number of major international financial institutions joined the DIFC as first time entrants to the region last year. At the same time, there was continuing development of internationally recognized regulations, an annualized growth rate of 19% in terms of additional commercial space leased in DIFC, and the cost of doing business was revised to encourage businesses already based in the DIFC to expand and to attract new companies to the Centre.
The DIFC’s strategy is to build a business ecosystem that supports the growth of its clients and this is evidenced by the number of clients who increased their physical presence and deployed more resources in the region. This includes major international firms taking up significant additional space within the Centre, such as State Bank of India, S&P, and Deloitte. Other firms have expanded their operations dedicated to the region, including Credit Suisse, which has strengthened its integrated banking operations in the Middle East. Meanwhile, several major international financial institutions expanded their existing regional businesses managed from the DIFC to include their interests in Africa, and so using the DIFC as a platform to expand their regional footprint.
The growth in the number of registered companies remained consistent in the last three quarters of the year at around 31-32 companies per quarter. On the other hand, the range of registration withdrawals continued to decrease. Today, the geographical diversity of firms operating out of the DIFC continues to show the Centre’s international stature, with approximately 41% of regulated firms coming from Europe; 30% from the Middle East, 16% from the US, 10% from Asia, and 3% from the rest of the world.
Throughout 2010, both the DFSA and the DIFC Authority introduced multiple regulatory changes in order to expand the DIFC’s offering, and improve the ease of doing business and investing in the Centre.
