The UAE has been ranked first among nine emerging family office centres worldwide, with a composite score of 74.0 that exceeds four of the eight established centres, according to a new report from Global Citizen Solutions (GCS).
The UAE’s score is higher than those of the US, the UK, Liechtenstein and Monaco, although the emerging and established groups are ranked separately.
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The report, Family Offices: Best Jurisdictions Worldwide, by the London-based residency and citizenship planning firm’s Global Intelligence Unit, compares 33 jurisdictions on what each offers the family office and what it offers the family behind it.
The Emirates scores 100 on regime and tax and 78 on ecosystem and centre depth, the highest ecosystem score of any emerging centre and above five of the eight established centres. Dubai is the world’s seventh-ranked financial centre.
The UAE levies no personal income tax and applies a statutory rate of zero when wealth passes to the next generation.
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) recorded 1,408 family business-related entities at the end of June 2026, up 36 per cent on the year.
Regional players
Qatar ranks second among emerging centres on 66.8 and matches the UAE with 100 on regime and tax. Saudi Arabia ranks eighth on 47.1, with 30 on regime and tax.
The report’s central argument is that terms open the door while the ecosystem keeps it open. Terms can be written in a budget cycle, it says, while the industry behind them takes a decade to build.
Only six of the 33 jurisdictions clear the median on both measures, and only one of them, Singapore, has a purpose-built family office regime.
The report said that is a reason for families to combine jurisdictions rather than choose one.
According to the UBS Global Family Office Report 2026, 88 per cent of family offices now hold bankable assets in two or more jurisdictions, a question of resilience rather than return.
Among the 17 jurisdictions ranked, a family prioritising the office is choosing between Singapore, the UAE and Hong Kong, while one prioritising status and succession is choosing between Switzerland, Portugal and Italy.
Of the 33, 25 offer foreign families a route to citizenship, and 21 of those place no restriction on it and permit dual nationality.
“We treat mobility as part of a family office’s diversification strategy, not as something alongside it. The reasoning that leads a family to hold assets in more than one jurisdiction applies equally to where its members hold residence and status,” said Patricia Casaburi, founder and CEO of Global Citizen Solutions
João Pacheco, head of Institutional Client Relations at the firm, said families were now diversifying their citizenships as well as their assets, and that both decisions were increasingly taken by the same people at the same table.
Deloitte projects that the wealth held in family office structures will grow from U$5.5 trillion in 2024 to $9.5 trillion by 2030, with the number of single-family offices worldwide rising from 8,030 to 10,720.
Source: Khaleej Times