← all locationsMiddle East
Field guide · Dubai, United Arab Emirates

DIFC

Dubai's onshore financial free zone — Gate Avenue and the DFSA.

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is a 110-acre special economic zone with its own English common-law courts and an independent regulator (the DFSA). It hosts the regional headquarters of most international banks operating in the Gulf, the Dubai Financial Market, the offices of more than 60 hedge funds, and a growing cluster of family offices serving Gulf and South-Asian wealth.

World map showing DIFC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (25.2°N 55.3°E) within the Middle East financial region.DIFC pinned at 25.2°N 55.3°E; arc connects to the Middle East regional hub in Dubai.Dubai25.2°N 55.3°EMIDDLE EASTARITHMOS · LOCATION MAP
DIFC · Dubai, United Arab Emirates25.2°N 55.3°Eregional hub: this district

Origin

Established in 2004 by Dubai's ruler under a federal decree, designed to compete with Bahrain and Singapore as a regional finance hub. The Gate Building opened the same year as the visual centrepiece.

Who works here

  • International banks: Goldman, JPMorgan, Citi, Morgan Stanley, HSBC
  • Hedge funds: Brevan Howard (DIFC office), Millennium, Citadel, ExodusPoint
  • Family offices serving Gulf and South-Asian UHNW
  • DFSA (regulator)

Landmarks

  • The Gate Building
  • Gate Avenue
  • ICD Brookfield Place
  • Burj Daman

Primary exchange

Dubai Financial Market· DFM

Three indices a local would build

Open the prompt box pre-filled with one of these and turn it into a transparent, rule-based index in under a minute.

  1. Gulf-region banks: 15 names from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, equal-weighted.open in builder →
  2. Saudi Tadawul large-caps ex-Aramco.open in builder →
  3. Listed sovereign-wealth-fund-backed companies in the GCC.open in builder →
Build one yourself

Arithmos turns a sentence into a transparent, rule-based index with a full backtest. Local exposure, global thesis, sector-specific or ex-something — describe it in plain English and the agent picks the names and weights.

build an index →see pricing

Other Middle East locations

Abu Dhabi
ADGM

Al Maryah Island's English-law free zone — and a magnet for hedge funds.

Riyadh
King Abdullah Financial District

Saudi Arabia's purpose-built financial city, north of central Riyadh.

Tel Aviv
Rothschild Boulevard

Israel's startup-and-finance spine — the TA-35 and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Arithmos · investment research & data tool · not investment advice · not a regulated broker or advisor.
TermsRisk DisclaimerPrivacy
/home·/markets·/feed·/leaderboard·/blog·/pricing·/about·/vacancies·/contact·/links·/terms
⚠Investment research & data tool · not investment advice · not a regulated broker or advisor · past performance does not guarantee future results.