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Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York:

Dubai is changing its financial regulatory scheme in an effort to lure asset managers and private funds to the country. Reports emerged today that Dubai regulators are floating proposals that would allow funds to be domiciled in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), facing less stringent regulation and thus lower costs than existing funds. Over 1,000 firms already operate within the DIFC which has become a finance hub in Dubai in recent years.

Dubai hopes that by changing the rules they can come to be known as a domicile of choice for private funds. So far only nine funds have the DIFC as their domicile since the country first began allowing funds to locate there in 2010.

A report in the Gulf Times says that funds that choose Dubai as a domicile will have to have a minimum subscription fee of $500,000. The new rules come from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), and were published this week and will take effect tomorrow. They seek to cut costs by creating a new class of funds that can be offered only to experienced professional investors and so need less regulation.

The new class of funds will be called Qualified Investor Funds or QIFs. The regime is similar to others in competing domiciles like Luxembourg.......................

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