Gulf headlines this autumn have focused on the conflict. The financial centres’ own figures are more cheerful. Abu Dhabi Global Market says the assets managed by its firms grew by 54 per cent in the first half of the year. The Dubai International Financial Centre registered 2,318 new companies in the twelve months to June, up 30 per cent. Anyone still waiting for the great exodus is standing at the wrong gate. Last week both centres added big names, and the arrivals spread well beyond finance.

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Maven
From London to DIFC · Trading

Maven, the London-based proprietary trading firm, is closing its New York office and backing Dubai instead. According to Bloomberg, the firm told staff it sees its greatest growth potential in Dubai, where it recently opened an office. Earlier this month, Funds Global MENA reported that Ian Toon, co-founder and chief trading officer, was expected to move from Monaco to lead the Dubai team in DIFC, where the firm has already taken space. Monaco to Dubai is one of the few moves in finance that doesn’t involve giving up the sunshine.

Robinhood
From California to DIFC · Retail investing

Robinhood, the American app that brought share dealing to a generation of retail investors and many dinner tables, has chosen DIFC as its regional headquarters. The Dubai Financial Services Authority has approved it to offer trading and custody across all ten asset classes the regulator permits, from equities to cryptocurrencies and investment tokens, The National said. Salah Kaddoura will lead the business as president of Robinhood MENA and build the regional team. Products are due in 2027, which for an app built on instant trades counts as a long hold.

Advent
From Boston to ADGM · Private equity

Advent, one of the world’s largest private equity investors with more than $109 billion under management, opened an office in Abu Dhabi Global Market on 21 October. Mehdi Iraqi will run it. He joined the firm in January after almost two decades covering institutional investors in the region. Advent says the office will bring it closer to its investors and the companies it owns. The National noted that Advent joins a growing queue of asset managers at ADGM, among them Capital Group, which manages $3.6 trillion and won its Abu Dhabi licence earlier this month. At this rate, ADGM will need a bigger arrivals hall.

Keolis
From Paris to Dubai · Transport

Keolis already runs the Dubai Metro and the Dubai Tram, and has now decided it might as well move in. The French operator has opened a regional headquarters in the city. According to Gulf News, the office will coordinate its regional business and bid for new metro, light rail, high-speed rail and rapid bus contracts. Its Dubai services carry around a million passengers a day, and this year it launched the UAE’s first passenger rail service with Etihad Rail. Alistair Gordon, chief executive for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, leads the office.

OpenAI and Emirates NBD
From San Francisco to Dubai · Banking and AI

Emirates NBD will be the first bank in the Middle East and North Africa to run OpenAI’s models on infrastructure inside the UAE, the two companies announced on 19 October. The bank will use them for customer service, risk and compliance, and staff productivity, with data processed in the country, Gulf News said. OpenAI, in turn, gets a major bank on its UAE infrastructure. Neither side has given a go-live date, so for now your mortgage questions will still be answered by a human.

Takasago
From Tokyo to Dubai Science Park · Fragrance and flavour

Takasago, the Japanese fragrance and flavour house, has opened a Creative Centre at Dubai Science Park, with laboratories to develop and test scents for the regional market. The company has been in Dubai since 2015 and timed the opening to coincide with Beautyworld Dubai, where it showed 13 new fragrances, according to the state news agency WAM. This week it came with 13. Bassel Kouchacji, its managing director for fragrance in the Middle East, called the region a centre of creativity for the global industry.

MAHY Khoory
Already here · Manufacturing

One of the UAE’s oldest family groups drove the week’s industrial investment. MAHY Khoory plans a paper manufacturing project worth more than AED 1 billion (about $272 million) at the Al Dhafra plant of its Union Paper Mills subsidiary in Abu Dhabi, Zawya reported. The new line will make premium containerboard and specialist paper for plasterboard, products the region now imports. Paper is the least glamorous arrival on the board and among the most practical: the region will no longer have to ship it in. The project is part of the government’s Make it in the Emirates programme, which aims to bring manufacturing home. No construction timetable has been given.

This week’s board is closed. Next week’s arrivals are already on approach.

About Arrivals
Every Monday, Arrivals brings together the companies choosing the UAE. We cover firms opening offices, moving their headquarters, investing and hiring across the Emirates, in every sector from technology to hospitality. Each story is backed by a real commitment and a credible source. It is the business news that rarely makes the headlines while the conflict dominates them.

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