Santander is latest heavyweight to open in DIFC

• General Atlantic set for Abu Dhabi
• DIFC houses 230 banks

The private banking arm of Santander in Spain has become the latest global financial institution to open an office in the Dubai International Financial Centre.

It will be followed into the UAE by the New York private equity firm General Atlantic, which received preliminary approval on Tuesday to set up shop at Abu Dhabi Global Market before the end of the year, according to sources cited by Reuters.

Santander’s arrival means 27 of the world’s top 29 systemically important institutions as recognised by the Financial Stability Board, the international body that monitors the global financial system, are now active in the DIFC, said Salmaan Jaffery, chief business development officer at the DIFC Authority.

“Their status as the number one private bank in Spain and credentials for being relationship focused, coupled with DIFC’s position as the Middle East, Africa and South Asia’s leading financial centre provides a perfect foundation for accessing opportunities from the $8 trillion of private wealth in the region,” Jaffery said.

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The DIFC is also home to 230 banks, more than 400 wealth and asset managers, and 13 of the world’s top 100 hedge funds. 

The Japanese bank Nomura, which opened a DIFC office for its wealth management division in July 2023, said earlier this month that it was expanding its headcount there. 

The Indian wealth manager Nuvama Private received its licence to operate in the DIFC last month. 

General Atlantic, which has $83 billion of assets under management, has been investing in the Middle East since 2015 and had been working to establish a physical presence in the UAE and Saudi Arabia for several months. 

Samir Assaf, General Atlantic’s senior adviser and chairman for Mena, told Abu Dhabi Finance Week in November 2023: “You put aside the geopolitical imbalance, however you look at it, the future seems bright in this region – hence the attraction of General Atlantic to come and invest.”