The move coincides with the UAE’s official designation of 2026 as the ‘year of the family’ and the National Agenda for Family Growth 2031, which recognizes the important role of families and provides a strategic framework to ensure their stability and prosperity.
As the UAE’s largest family ecosystem, DIFC is home to more than 1,250 family-related organizations supported by more than 600 partners, including private banks, wealth and asset management firms, law firms and advisory firms.
DIFC Family Wealth Centre
Collectively, the top 120 families operating out of the DIFC manage more than $1.2tn in assets worldwide, making a significant contribution to the UAE economy.
Family businesses in the UAE form the backbone of economic activity, driving nearly 60 percent of GDP and employing 80 percent of the national workforce.
Arif Amiri, CEO of the DIFC Authority, said: “The DIFC continues to be at the forefront of helping families to contribute to our society, ensuring that they are successful and successful. Through the efforts of the DIFC Family Wealth Centre, sound guidance from our partners and world-class structures that support growth, the DIFC is strengthening Dubai as a leading destination for second and third generation – growing families globally, regionally and locally.
“The DIFC Family Wealth Center is emerging as a cornerstone of the private wealth space.”
Supporting these organizations, the Strategic Advisory Committee will guide the DIFC Family Wealth Center by promoting best practices in family governance, succession planning and wealth management.
Expenditures include providing access to high-quality experts, consultants and service providers, delivering training solutions for educational programs, and providing high-quality structures for wealth and family business structures with strict privacy standards.
The move is designed to further strengthen DIFC’s position as a leading private wealth and family business advisory center.
Family wealth strategy
Acting in an advisory capacity, the Committee will help shape the Centre’s strategic direction and priorities, provide expert and impartial input to improve DIFC’s family wealth provision, and contribute thought leadership on global trends affecting family wealth.
It will also support access, information sharing, communication, collaboration and education across ecosystems.
The activation of the Strategic Advisory Committee follows a number of landmark initiatives and collaborations launched at the recently held DIFC Family Wealth Center Summit, which reinforces Dubai’s position as the MEASA regional hub for family wealth, next generation leadership and succession planning.
Research continues to emphasize the evolving role of family offices. BlackRock’s white paper notes that many family offices want to work with external partners to achieve investment goals, particularly in private equity markets and emerging technologies.
Separate research by BNY Wealth suggests that family offices are often at the cutting edge of new investment methods, including private markets and digital assets.
In 2025 alone, DIFC Family Wealth Center members have benefited from more than 30 special events, workshops, various tables and publications.
Delivered in partnership with our DIFC partners, these programs include family office structuring, succession planning, alternative investment strategies, strategic planning structures, philanthropy, global tax and governance.
Such efforts strengthen Dubai’s position as a leading destination for wealth management, governance and succession by providing families with structured governance support, regulatory clarity, Golden Visa and licensing provision, selective education and high-level networking within the DIFC.
Family businesses in Dubai
The DIFC’s commitment to family-related businesses is long-standing, with support provided since the establishment of the Center in 2004 by foundations, holding companies, executive offices, private companies and proprietary investment organizations.
The launch of the DIFC Family Arrangements Regulations 2023 reaffirmed Dubai’s commitment to facilitating the efficient administration and management of family wealth, increasing transparency, stability and trust within the family office ecosystem.
Looking ahead, the DIFC Family Wealth Center will extend its annual Conference to May 2026, with the event taking place during Dubai Finance Week.
