Dubai International Financial Center

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is a near-shore financial hub for the or Middle East and North Africa (MENA

MENA

The term MENA, for "Middle East and North Africa", is an acronym often used in academic, military planning and business writing.The term covers an extensive region, extending from Morocco to Iran, including the majority of both the Middle Eastern and Maghreb countries...

) containing a capital market designated as a financial

Finance

"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...

free zone in Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

. The centre was designed by Eric Kuhne

Eric Kuhne

Eric Robert Kuhne is an American-born architect living and working in London. Owner of CivicArts / Eric R Kuhne & Associates, his office is a research and design firm which has completed projects on five continents...

. It was established to create an environment for growth, progress and economic development in the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

and the wider region by providing the needed legal and business as well as physical infrastructure benchmarked against international standards.

Independent Jurisdiction

The DIFC is an independent jurisdiction under the UAE Constitution, and has its own independent civil and commercial laws, which are written in English and which default to English law. It also has its own courts, with judges taken from the common law world including England, Singapore and Hong Kong. The DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre is an independent centre of international arbitration that uses rules modeled on the London Centre of International Arbitration.

Role as an International Financial Centre

License applications are considered from financial institutions in the sectors. Each of these units offer benefits such as zero tax rate on income and profits, 100 percent foreign ownership, no restrictions on foreign exchange or capital/profit repatriation, operational support and business continuity facilities.

One of the key subsidiaries of the centre is NASDAQ Dubai (Formerly Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX)).

NASDAQ Dubai

It is a privately held financial exchange that opened in September 2005 as Dubai International Financial Exchange(DIFX) but it was rebranded as NASDAQ Dubai in the year 2008.

The trading hours of NASDAQ Dubai are from 10:00am to 2:00 pm (06:00 am to 10:00 am GMT) from Sunday to Thursday.

Products listed on the DIFX include ordinary shares listed by DP World along with other Damas and DEPA. DP World is the largest IPOs in the Middle East and raised $ 4.96 billion. It was 15x oversubscribed and is one of the most valued companies in the Middle East Region.

NASDAQ Dubai is regulated by Dubai Financial Services Authority

Center of Excellence

The DIFC Center of Excellence was setup in 2009, it is a resource center that possesses basic infrastructure required by educational institutes to function. The center comprises 21 seminar rooms, 3 lecture rooms, 2 lecture theaters, a computer lab and library..

The list of Educational Institutes which operate from these facilities is as follows:

S.No.	Name	Location	Established	Courses Offered
1	Cass Business School	Gate Village 2	2007	Executive MBA
2	Duke Fuqua School of Business	Gate Village 2	2009	MBA, Executive MBA, Advanced Management Program and the Global Leadership Program
3	International Compliance Association	Gate Village 2	2008	Anti-Money Laundering, Compliance and Financial Crime Prevention Training
4	London Business School	Gate Village 2	2007	Executive MBA
5	Phoenix Financial Trading	Gate Village 2	2006	Specialist Financial Training

In addition to the above listed organizations, The Center is also partnered with the following:

International Bar Association
Thomsun Reuters
Dubai Private Equity Network
Amanie Islamic Finance Consultancy and Education
Dubai Private Equity Network
The Schulich School of Business
School of Oriental and African Studies

Hotels

The Dubai International Financial Center complex has 1 hotel, the Ritz Carlton DIFC.
The hotel was announced and construction was started in the year 2006, It was designed by architects Gensler.
Paris based construction firm Bouygues built the hotel for developers Union Properties. The hotel was scheduled to open in the year 2008, however the hotel began operations in January 2011.

The 5 star property is located adjacent to the Gate Precinct within the Gate Boulevard district near the Gate Building.It is 14 stories tall and consists of 341 rooms plus 124 serviced apartments, 3 fine dining restaurants 2 lounges and a 1400 square meter ballroom. The hotel covers an area of 2000 square meters.

The developers of the hotel, Union Properties, sold it in November 2010 for AED 1.1 Billion in order to reduce debt.

The hotel has a 4.5/5 rating on Tripadvisor

Art Galleries

Dubai International Financial Center is also home to a host of Art Galleries which showcase both local and international Art. This list of Galleries located here is as follows:

S.No	Gallery	Location
1	Art Dubai	Gate Village 01
2	ARTSPACE	Gate Village 03
3	Ayyam Gallery	Gate Village 03
4	Christies	Gate Village 05
5	Cuadro Fine Art Gallery	Gate Village 10
6	Opera Gallery	Gate Village 03
7	The Empty Quarter	Gate Village 02
8	The Farjam Collection	Gate Village 04
9	XVA Gallery	Gate Village 07

The Galleries showcase art from Middle Eastern & International artists, the galleries frequently host events to present new works from different artists. Some of the above Galleries also act as Auction Houses for the sale of Art.

Restaurants & Cafes

There is a variety of 42 cafes and restaurants located in this area featuring local and international chains, the selection of eateries includes everything from fast food outlets to fine dining options. A wide variety of cuisines can be found here.

The list of outlets along with their cuisine and exact location in the area is as follows:

S.No.	Outlet	Location	Cuisine
1	Al Mandaloun	The Balcony 03	Lebanese
2	Au Bon Pain	The Balcony 02	Cafe
3	Auntie Anne's	Marble Walk	Cafe
4	Blue Rain	Ritz Carlton	Thai
5	Cafe Bateel	The Balcony 02	Cafe
6	Cafe Florian	Gate Village 06	Cafe
7	Cafe Nero	The Balcony 02	Cafe
8	Can Can Brasserie	Ritz Carlton	French
9	Can Can Cafe	Rtiz Carlton	Cafe
10	Caramel Lounge	The Balcony 03	International
11	Caribou Coffee	Marble Walk	Cafe
12	Center Cut Steak House	Ritz Carlton	Australian
13	Costa Coffee	The Balcony 02	Cafe
14	Debauve & Gallais	Marble Walk	Chocolatier
15	Dome Cafe	The Balcony 05	Cafe
16	Freshii	Marble Walk	International
17	Gazebo	Marble Walk	Indian
18	Gloria Jeans	Marble Walk	Cafe
19	Gourmet Burger Kitchen	Marble Walk	American
20	Joga Juice	The Balcony 03	Juice Bar
21	Kitsch Cupcakes	Marble Walk	Cupcakes
22	La Petite Maison	Gate Village 08	French
23	Lobby Lounge & Terrace	Ritz Carlton	Cafe
24	Mado	Marble Walk	Cafe
25	MORE	The Balcony 04	Cafe
26	No. 5 Lounge & Bar	Ritz Carlton	Bar
27	Pinkberry	Marble Walk	Yogurt
28	Potbelly	Marble Walk	Sandwiches
29	Robertos Ristorante	Gate Village 01	Italian
30	Royal China	The Balcony 04	Chinese
31	Sana Bonta	Marble Walk	Italian
32	Starbucks	The Balcony 05	Cafe
33	Subway	Marble Walk	Sandwiches
34	The Gramercy	The Balcony 03	Bar
35	The Lunch Box	Marble Walk	Cafe
36	The Noodle House	Marble Walk	Asian
37	u fuel	Gate Village 05
38	Xqueezit	Precinct Building 2	Juice Bar
39	Yo Sushi	The Balcony 03	Japanese
40	Zuma	Gate Village 06	Japanese
41	1762 Appetite	The Balcony 05	Cafe
42	Scuzi?	Marble Walk	Italian

Shopping

Within the DIFC complex are located a variety of retail shops and convenience stores along with Business Services outlets. The list of the stores located within this area is as follows:

S.No	Outlet	Location	Type
1	Andrew Martin	Gate Village 7	Furniture
2	Aliel	Gate Village 01	Jeweler
3	Ascots & Chapels	Marble Walk	Tailor
4	AVIS	Marble Walk	Car Rental
5	Axiom Telecom	Marble Walk	Telecom
6	Beautech	Gate Village 08	Beauty Salon
7	Bespoke	Marble Walk	Tailor
8	Boots	The Balcony 05	Pharmacy
9	Borders	The Balcony 05	Books
10	Business Solutions LLC	Marble Walk	Stationary
11	Champion Cleaners	The Balcony 02	Laundry
12	DESCO Printers	The Balcony 04	Printing
13	Emirates Post	Marble Walk	Postal
14	Etisalat	The Balcony 05	Telecom
15	FedEx Express	Marble Walk	Postal
16	Fitness First	Marble Walk	Fitness
17	Flower Boutique	Marble Walk	Flowers
18	CONTEMPO	Gate Village 05	Flowers
19	Hummingbird Early Leaning Center	The Balcony 05	Children
20	Lunettes House of Quality Optics	The Balcony 05	Optical
21	M.A.H Centre	Marble Walk	Beauty Salon
22	Marina Center Pharmacy	Marble Walk	Pharmacy
23	Momentum	Marble Walk
24	New Center	Marble Walk
25	N Style	The Balcony 02	Beauty Salon
26	Ordning & Reda	The Balcony 02	Design
27	Proof Woody FZ LLC	Marble Walk	Cafe/News Kiosk
28	Rivoli	Marble Walk	Luxury Goods
29	Sharaftravel	Marble Walk	Travel Agent
30	Spectrum Digital Print Solutions	Marble Walk	Priting
31	The Clinic	Gate Village 07	Healthcare
32	The Health Club	Ritz Carlton
33	Ritz Carlton Spa	Ritz Carlton	Spa
34	The Rug Company	Gate Village 02	Carpets
35	The Shoe Shine Co	Marble Walk	Shoes
36	Toni & Guy	Marble Walk	Salon
37	u energy	Gate Village 04	Fitness
38	Urban Male Lounge	The Balcony 02	Spa
39	Visual Optics	Marble Walk	Optics

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