The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) proposed a broad rewrite of its investment fund rules today (Tuesday), opening a consultation that would change how private funds are classified and ease licensing for managers.
The regulator, which supervises firms in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), called it the most significant review of its funds framework since 2010.
The consultation, labeled CP 173, arrives as the DIFC’s wealth and asset management sector has expanded quickly, with the center reporting a 321-firm industry overseeing roughly $176 billion at the end of 2025.
The DFSA framed the package as an effort to match its rules to the risk of a given fund and cut what it called unnecessary regulatory complexity.
Under CP 173, the DFSA wants to drop rigid classifications for specialist private funds in favor of a risk-based approach it said would better fit hybrid and multi-strategy investing.
The paper also proposes to simplify authorization for investment managers, confirming that dealing as agent and arranging deals fall under a single managing-assets license.
Other measures would update master-feeder public fund structures by removing eligibility criteria the DFSA described as outdated. The regulator also wants to scrap the external fund manager regime, a change it tied to what it said was a growing pipeline of firms seeking full DFSA authorisation.
A separate proposal would widen the room for employees to invest in funds run by their employers, both directly and through dedicated vehicles. The DFSA said the change is meant to support recruitment and retention, and to align staff interests with those of outside investors.
Charlotte Robins, the DFSA’s managing director of policy and legal
“This reflects our commitment to investor protection, market confidence, and proportionate regulation Regulation Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Read this Term,” said Charlotte Robins, the DFSA’s managing director of policy and legal.
The regulator said the broader aim is to deepen the DIFC’s asset management base and keep it competitive for global managers, a claim it did not tie to independent data.
Tokenized Funds and Retail Access Put on the Table
Alongside the formal proposals, the DFSA is seeking early feedback on two areas it may turn into policy later. One is the tokenization Tokenization Tokenization represents the process of substituting a sensitive data element with a non-sensitive equivalent, i.e. token, which bears no extrinsic or exploitable meaning or value. In essence, the rights to the ownership of an asset are converted into a digital token. Tokenization can be used to own an entire unit of an asset. For example, one token that represents the ownership of a piece of real estate or to split ownership of a single unity of an asset such as 200,000 tokens, each one represen Tokenization represents the process of substituting a sensitive data element with a non-sensitive equivalent, i.e. token, which bears no extrinsic or exploitable meaning or value. In essence, the rights to the ownership of an asset are converted into a digital token. Tokenization can be used to own an entire unit of an asset. For example, one token that represents the ownership of a piece of real estate or to split ownership of a single unity of an asset such as 200,000 tokens, each one represen Read this Term of fund units and fund assets, including tokenized money market funds.
The other is a possible long-term investment fund regime that would let retail investors reach illiquid, real-economy assets currently open only to professional investors.
The tokenization question builds on earlier digital-asset work. The regulator introduced investment token rules in 2021 and has since recognized a short list of crypto tokens for use in the DIFC.
It stressed that both new topics sit at the feedback stage, with no commitment to draft rules.
Gulf Rivals Race to Rewrite Fund Rulebooks
The DFSA is not moving in isolation. In November 2025, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the DIFC’s main regional rival, published Consultation Paper No. 12 of 2025, proposing streamlined regimes for smaller managers running $200 million or less and for managers serving only institutional clients.
That consultation, which closed on January 30, 2026, also moved to exempt employee investment vehicles from fund licensing, echoing the DFSA’s employee-investment proposal. Abu Dhabi said funds-sector assets under management rose 48% year over year in the third quarter of 2025.
The retail-access idea has precedents further afield. The European Union’s revamped long-term investment fund rules, known as ELTIF 2.0, took effect in January 2024 and opened illiquid assets to retail buyers, while Britain’s Long Term Asset Fund regime moved the same way around the same time.
Both have drawn scrutiny over how easily ordinary investors can exit funds holding private assets, a concern the DFSA would have to weigh if it goes beyond feedback.
On tokenization, asset managers have already pushed ahead. BlackRock launched its BUIDL tokenized fund in March 2024, and rivals have since rolled out tokenized money market products. Dubai, for its part, has expanded the digital assets it recognizes in the DIFC, adding Ripple’s XRP and its RLUSD stablecoin.
Rules Face a Long Path to Sign-Off
The consultation runs until September 7, 2026, with responses submitted through the DFSA’s online form.
After that, the regulator said it will review submissions and finalize changes to the Collective Investment Law and Rules, the Investment Trust Law, the Regulatory Law and the relevant rulebook modules.
Any legislative changes then go to the President of the DIFC and on to the Ruler of Dubai for assent, which leaves the timeline open.
The DFSA cautioned that firms should not act on the proposals until the final changes are confirmed and published, and said timing will depend on how much the new rules ask authorized firms to change.
