The Dubai International Financial Centre will initially comprise the following key ‘sectors’ of activity:

• Banking Services
• Capital Markets
• Asset Management and Fund Registration
• Reinsurance
• Islamic Finance
• Back Office Operations

Banking Services
Corporate Banking (Trade Finance)
Dubai has emerged as a major centre for international trade and as the third largest re-export centre in the world (after Hong Kong and Singapore) and with over 3,000 multinational and regional corporations located in its free zones requiring trade finance. The region's combined exports equate to those of China. The DIFC offers enormous opportunities for providers of trade finance.

Investment Banking
There is a growing requirement for equity and bond issuance in the region with more than 90 planned privatisations (notably in the power and telecom sectors) with a growing number of private companies seeking to raise capital through IPOs and secondary offerings. The region's large pool of liquidity is also capable of being tapped by governments in the region and global issuers from outside the region.

Capital Markets (Dubai International Financial Exchange)
The Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) will provide a liquid and transparent market for the hundreds of successful privately owned companies in the region and soon to be privatised businesses which require listings on a liquid, transparent and efficient stock exchange. It will also offer facilities for companies from outside the region to be dual listed. The DIFX, whose members will include the premier global investment banks, is designed to complement the services provided by local financial exchanges in the region and will be the regional gateway for capital raising and investment.

Issuers will benefit from improved regional and global visibility for their companies and greater and cheaper access to capital. Investors will benefit from access to a wider range of regional investment opportunities. The result: a pooling of regional liquidity and a more efficient allocation of capital and investment, benefiting both issuers and investors.

Asset Management & Fund Registration
More than a trillion dollars of wealth is held by institutional and private investors in the region. Many regional companies and retail banks outsource the management and administration of these funds to specialist providers outside the region. The DIFC offers a highly attractive opportunity for asset management firms and private banks to gather and manage this growing pool of assets closer to their client base.

Reinsurance
The penetration and density of insurance in the region has traditionally lagged far behind average world levels. Statistics show that the sum of insurance premiums in the Middle East is far below the developed or other developing markets. However, with economic growth, industrialisation and improved regulation, the region is experiencing a changing attitude towards risk and an increasing awareness of the need for insurance. Due to slow growth in more mature traditional markets, the world’s insurance and reinsurance companies are now assessing markets such as the Middle East. The DIFC has set out to create a global [re-]insurance hub to foster the development of a thriving insurance market by attracting global insurance and reinsurance companies, brokers, captives and other service providers.

Islamic Finance
The global market for Islamic financial products is worth over $260 billion and is expected to grow at 12 to 15 per cent a year over the next ten years. It is likely to account for some 50 to 60 per cent of the total savings of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims within the next decade. Within the region, there is a growing number of infrastructure projects requiring Sharia compliant finance. But the market is still under-developed and fragmented. Dubai aims to become a major centre for product innovation for Islamic investors and borrowers.

Back Office Operations
The growth of back office operations and outsourcing have been permanent features of the financial services industry in recent years. With its world-class IT infrastructure and ready access to the region's large pool of educated and skilled professionals, Dubai is well placed to become the location of choice for the global back office operations of banks and other financial institutions. The DIFC offers a very attractive proposition as a location for support activities.