UAE investment: Global capital is moving towards the GCC — here’s why

Dubai: Global capital is increasingly moving towards the GCC as investors seek regulatory certainty, talent, opportunity and the ability to execute, according to senior banking and business leaders speaking at AIM Congress 2026 in Dubai.

“The GCC is truly the centre point of the world today; you can see the intersection of capital flows,” Salman Mahdi, Global VC at Deutsche Bank Private Bank, said during a panel examining the changing geography of global investment.

“Capital is moving to places where there is certainty of regulation, where there is talent, where there is opportunity and where there is the ability to execute,” Mahdi said.

His comments come as the UAE continues to position itself as a gateway between major capital pools and fast-growing markets across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Mahdi said the GCC was uniquely positioned to intermediate capital flows between Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

“It is the place where there is the maximum opportunity to intermediate capital flows between Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the high-growth markets of Asia,” he said.

He pointed to three major pools of capital that are reshaping the global investment landscape: intergenerational wealth, family offices and sovereign capital.

The intergenerational transfer of wealth alone is expected to reach about $85 trillion over the next two to three decades, with a significant portion changing hands in the Middle East and GCC, Mahdi said.

He also highlighted the rise of family offices, saying the global family-office capital pool is around $7 trillion, with 60 per cent located in the Middle East and Asia.

Sovereign capital is another major pool, with more than $15 trillion globally, according to Mahdi.

For investors deciding where to deploy that capital, Mahdi said the fundamentals of the destination mattered more than ever.

He urged governments and businesses to focus on “regulation, certainty, execution, consistency, transparency” and high-quality governance.

“We are very lucky to be sitting in a place which is awash with talent, with capital, and with certainty, regulatory certainty,” he said.

The comments underline the factors that are increasingly important to investors beyond simply financial returns, particularly as geopolitical tensions, changing supply chains and technological disruption reshape investment decisions.

The panel also highlighted the changing nature of wealth and investment decisions as a new generation prepares to take control of family fortunes.

Yusuff Ali M.A., Chairman of LuLu Group International, said the UAE’s appeal was rooted in its stability, openness and ability to bring together people, businesses and capital from across the world.

“The UAE is a country where everybody can come and do business,” Yusuff Ali said, highlighting the country’s role as a meeting point for different nationalities, markets and investment opportunities.

He said the country’s leadership had created an environment in which businesses could plan for the long term and expand with confidence.

“Here, we have stability, security and a clear vision,” he said, adding that these factors were essential for attracting international investors and encouraging companies to establish and grow their operations in the region.

Ali also stressed the importance of investing in people and communities, saying sustainable growth depended on creating opportunities that benefited society as a whole.

Mishal Hamad Ali Mohamed Kanoo, Chairman of The Kanoo Group, argued that the next generation should look beyond financial returns when deciding where and how to invest.

“One of the important things when joining an organisation is that you need to know why,” Kanoo said.

He said businesses should have a purpose that goes beyond making money and should contribute to society.

“The whole purpose of investment is not to make bankers happy, but to build up people and communities and give them better chances in life,” he said.

Kanoo said the way companies behaved during periods of crisis should be an important consideration for investors.

He pointed to the Covid-19 pandemic as a test of whether companies were genuinely sustainable beyond a crisis.

“That is why I look at how businesses handled employees when COVID hit,” he said.

“Most people thought about cutting costs first, and honestly, I think that was the stupidest decision they could have made.”

His comments put people and communities at the centre of long-term investment decisions, rather than treating cost reduction as the default response to economic shocks.

Mahdi also pointed to Asia and Africa as major sources of future economic growth, arguing that the Middle East could play a key role in connecting their opportunities with capital and European technology.

“There is no doubt, Africa, West Asia, and Asia is where all the growth will come from,” he said.

He said the opportunity was to combine “the hearts of capital in the Middle East” with the opportunities presented by Asia and Africa, alongside technology and partnerships with Europe.

“If we can balance the hearts of capital in the Middle East, the opportunities that Asia and Africa provide, and the technology and the partnerships that can be built with Europe, I think the future for this region is absolutely glorious,” Mahdi said.

Technology is also changing how investors allocate capital, Mahdi said, with artificial intelligence increasingly affecting not just technology investments but investment strategies themselves.

“Artificial intelligence is, of course, transformational technological force,” he said.

Mahdi warned that investment approaches that worked in the past could fail in the future as technology changes markets and businesses.

“Everything that you gain in the past is not going to be successful in the future,” he said, adding that family offices, investment professionals and asset-allocation strategies would all need to adapt.

“The biggest mistake that families and investors can make is to allow more methods in a new world,” he said.