The Dubai Financial Services Authority has published its 2025 Annual Report, which shows a third consecutive year of double-digit growth across the Dubai International Financial Centre. The DFSA licensed and registered 182 new firms in 2025, up 16% from 2024, taking the total number of regulated entities to 1,050 across banking, capital markets, wealth and asset management, insurance and fintech. Growth was broad-based across the market, with the fund management sector expanding to 121 Authorised Firms and 276 funds, combined bank balance sheets reaching USD 251 billion, insurance-related entities increasing 15%, and over-the-counter transaction value and volume more than doubling to USD 13 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025. The report also highlights continued market deepening and supervisory activity. New debenture listings totaled USD 30.6 billion, with USD 147.4 billion outstanding, including USD 107.9 billion in sukuk listings. In wealth and asset management, assets under management rose 4% year on year to USD 176 billion and assets under advisory increased 22% to USD 220 billion, while private banking advisory assets reached USD 103.8 billion. On enforcement and market integrity, the DFSA progressed 17 investigations and concluded seven by year-end, received 322 complaints and resolved 81% within 28 days, and issued 49 consumer alerts. The report also notes that the authority introduced or enhanced frameworks for digital finance, digital assets, sustainable finance and technology-enabled financial services, while its Tokenisation Regulatory Sandbox drew 96 expressions of interest from firms across six jurisdictions.

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