Omar bin-Sulaiman is on a mission. The director general of the Dubai International Financial Centre is traveling the world, hoping to persuade investors that his glistening $2 billion complex at the heart of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates is a logical choice for a banking hub.
If financial firms choose to alight in Dubai -- to make visiting easier, flag carrier Emirates is spending $19 billion on 45 gargantuan Airbus A380s -- Sulaiman, 33, says they will feel right at home: “The DIFC operates under its own transparent and independent legal and regulatory system based on British law and the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority.” Although the DIFC doesn’t offer relocation incentives, the office/shopping/hotel city-within-a-city provides 100 percent foreign ownership rights, zero taxes and free repatriation of capital and profits. Coming to the 110-acre site in September is the Dubai International Financial Exchange, where equities, bonds, index funds and derivatives will trade, along with financial products that meet Islamic strictures. Thus far the U.S.'s Merrill Lynch and Basel-based Bank Sarasin are among the firms that have moved into the center; applications from Barclays Capital and Invesco are pending.
“There is a space in that time zone between London and the Far East for a financial center,” says Jon Little, CEO of Mellon Global Investments, which recently transferred its Bahrain office to the DIFC. “We find it helpful to have a knowledgeable general sales analyst in Dubai who knows clients in the region.” Obtaining a license from DIFC officials “wasn’t a shoo-in process,” Little says. “It gives you confidence that they are serious about regulation.”
But tight regulation is no reason to assume that Dubai officials are a dour lot: They’ve enticed the International Cricket Council to move its headquarters there, and they’re trying to become a stop on the PGA tour. Then there’s the DIFC’s year-round indoor ski slope.
