PC: Brodie Consulting Group
Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd, a group company based in London, said today that it was setting up a platform at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to make it easy for hedge funds and investment companies to establish themselves in the city’s financial centre.
According to the firm statement, it will enable investment managers to conduct regulated activities under Capricorn’s licence, thus availing an alternate route to those who wish to set up in Dubai, rather than having to secure a standalone regulatory licence.
Salmaan Jaffery, chief business development officer at DIFC, believes that they are opening a new road for managers to become licensed and operational here in Dubai with the hosting solution of Capricorn.
Role of Regulatory Hosting Platforms
Regulation hosting sites, such as those offered in the case of Capricorn, offer many services, which would help investment houses cut costs. They tend to deal with most of the regulatory and administrative work undertaken in hosting financial hubs. By outsourcing this much work, the investment manager will be left with ample time to do what they are really supposed to do, generate returns that will be passed on to their clients.
Moreover, the platform also provides firms with solutions for compliance-achievement, therefore reducing the risks of handling complex regulatory frameworks. Such services have become very popular with hedge funds and asset managers as they facilitate a business to scale immediately without full regulatory licensing costs or delays associated therewith.
The Growing Appeal of Dubai for Hedge Funds
Dubai has become one of the favourite destinations in the world for hedge funds in the last couple of years. Major players such as Millennium Management and Balyasny Asset Management have increased their presence in the Gulf city. Its good time zone and low tax regime besides other incentives to attract world financial firms to its land is making it popular for any international financial firms.
This has led to the rising workforce in the industry by billions. The number of professionals in the hedge funds now exceeds 1,000 working in the city. Moreover, employees working in the DIFC, a special economic zone that offers its own legal system and courts in Dubai, grew by 66% since 2019 to nearly 44,000.
It has also gained importance as a financial free zone for wealth and asset management companies. Today, with more than 400 wealth and asset management firms’ setup, including over 60 hedge funds, the DIFC has gained significant importance.
Capricorn’s Long-standing Investment Experience
Capricorn Fund Managers is a company within the portfolio of the family-owned business, Capricorn Group, which has extensive experience in alternative investments. Since its inception in 1994, the company has been operating in alternative investments and began asset management services investment in 2003. Through time, Capricorn has become synonymous with skills and experience in the management of alternative investments, which makes it suitable for carrying out the role of regulatory hosting for hedge funds that wish to enter Dubai.
Capricorn offers to assist the growing number of companies that seek to capitalise on this new financial market emerging in the city by offering these services. Hedge fund managers should find the new regulatory hosting platform a useful tool, as it will, hopefully, enable them to gain access to the operational status much faster than before in the thriving financial environment of Dubai.
The launch by Capricorn Fund Managers is an example of a larger strategy by Dubai to further entrench its position as a global financial centre and attract world-class investment managers. As more hedge funds are likely to move to the region, the rapid growth in the industry will demand that complex services like regulatory hosting stand out.
