DIFC drafts laws to woo family businesses

FAMILY FOCUS: The DIFC has said it has adapted its regulations to help attract family-run offices. (Getty Images)

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) said on Tuesday it adapted its regulations to help attract some of the $1 trillion of wealth held by Middle Eastern family offices, reported newswire Bloomberg.

“In contrast to conventional financial institutions, single family offices have no direct public liability as all shareholders are bloodline descendants of a common ancestor,” DIFC Governor Omar bin Sulaiman told the newswire in an emailed statement.

“As such, their regulatory requirements differ significantly.”

More than 75% of businesses in the Middle East are family-run and they have combined assets of more than $1 trillion, the statement said, without providing details of what regulatory exclusions the DIFC will allow family offices, Bloomberg reported.

Dubai’s government opened the tax-free DIFC in 2004 and the centre’s regulator has since licensed banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings.

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