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Dubai, UAE — November 2025 — A new era of global finance is being shaped by a rising generation of financial cities, including Dubai, Milan, and Shenzhen, which are leveraging innovative models to attract capital, talent, and enterprises away from established hubs.
This shift is a central finding of the sixth edition of the “Future of Finance” report series, titled “Next-Generation Financial Cities: New models for attracting global capital,” released by the Dubai International Financial Centre.
Launched in collaboration with research partner Asia House during a global webinar attended by over 600 senior executives, the report explored the increasing competitiveness of these emerging cities amidst growing pressures on traditional financial centres like New York, London, and Hong Kong.
While the established hubs retain advantages of scale and trust, they are being challenged by rising costs, ageing infrastructure and populations, political uncertainty, and regulatory stagnation, creating new opportunities for agile competitors.
The selection of these next-generation cities was based on their advancing positions across several global indices, including the Global Financial Centres Index, the Global Power City Index, the IMD Smart City Index, and Julius Baer’s Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report.
According to the Emirates News Agency, the report identified four core features underpinning competitiveness: talent attraction, financial infrastructure and adaptability, regulation and governance, and connectivity. It concluded that future leadership in the financial sector will depend on how effectively cities integrate these attributes to build dynamic, innovative ecosystems.
Chief Executive Officer of DIFC Authority, Arif Amiri, stated that emerging financial hubs are enhancing their strategic adaptability and implementing comprehensive reforms to outpace established centres.
He highlighted Dubai’s unique characteristics, including its adoption of a Common Law framework through DIFC and the introduction of specialised financial market regulations, as key competitive advantages.
The report forecasted that the future of global finance will be defined by a distributed network of interconnected centres, each capitalising on its unique strengths. This dynamic is illustrated by Dubai’s remarkable ascent in the GFCI rankings.
Michael Mainelli, Chairman of Z/Yen Group, noted that when the index launched in 2005, Dubai scored 570 points, just three points above the average. “In the latest edition, the average is now 697, a notable improvement. Dubai, however, has moved significantly from 570 to 748 points, placing it just outside the global top 10. Back then, Dubai was three points above average; now, it is 51 points ahead,” he added.
Quality of life is also cited as a critical factor in this global reshuffle. Jochen Biedermann, managing director of the World Alliance of International Financial Centers, emphasized that for professionals relocating with families, immediate concerns include access to international schools, safety, and green spaces.
Regarding the relationship between old and new hubs, Wolfgang Engel, general manager of the Institute of International Finance for the Middle East and Africa, argued that emerging centres should be viewed as partners rather than competitors.
He suggested that cooperation in areas like FinTech standards, cross-border data flows, and climate finance could unlock shared value and build a more resilient global financial system.
The report confirmed Dubai’s leading role in this transformation, both regionally and globally. DIFC, now home to over 8,000 active registered companies and the region’s largest concentration of entities regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, has solidified its status as one of the world’s top four FinTech hubs.
With more than 1,500 FinTech, AI, and innovation firms based within the centre, which have collectively raised over $4.2 billion in investments, DIFC stands as the Middle East’s most active ecosystem for growth-stage tech companies and ambitious entrepreneurs.
