DIFC: Guardian lion standing watch over Dubai’s financial sector

During the Dubai Week in China summit in Beijing, which ended on 15 May, the purpose-built financial free zone Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) promoted itself as a mature and respected financial ecosystem to potential Chinese investors and firms seeking to expand their international presence and exposure across the Middle East and wider region.

It has been reported that prominent Chinese financial and non-financial institutions have expressed interest in DIFC’s widely appreciated regulatory framework, legal systems and enabling infrastructure.

Unique framework

DIFC operates on a unique legal and regulatory framework developed by synthesizing federal and Dubai law to create an optimal growth environment for the financial sector. This permits DIFC to have its own civil and commercial code that is modelled closely on international standards and principles of common law while also tailored to the needs of the region.

DIFC’s financial regulatory framework is administered by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) as an adjunct to the legal framework overseen by the court of DIFC. The court is an English-language common law court; its rules of procedure are modelled on the English Civil Procedure Rules and it has a judicial bench drawn from various common law jurisdictions around the world.