The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is an on-shore financial hub which aims to provide a platform for business and financial institutions to reach into and out of the emerging markets of the region. It was established to create an environment for growth, progress and economic development in the United Arab Emirates and the wider region by providing the needed legal and business as well as physical infrastructure benchmarked against international standards.

The DIFC is an independent jurisdiction under the UAE Constitution, and has its own independent civil and commercial laws, which are written in English and which default to English law. It also has its own courts, with judges taken from leading common law jurisdictions including England, Singapore and Hong Kong. The DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre is an independent centre of international arbitration that uses rules modeled on the London Centre of International Arbitration.

Role as an international financial centre

License applications are considered from financial institutions in the sectors. Each of these units offer benefits such as zero tax rate on income and profits, 100 percent foreign ownership, no restrictions on foreign exchange or capital/profit repatriation, operational support and business continuity facilities.
One of the key elements of the centre is a privately held financial exchange that opened in September 2005 as Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) but was rebranded to NASDAQ Dubai in the year 2008.
The trading hours of NASDAQ Dubai are from 10:00am to 2:00 pm (06:00 am to 10:00 am GMT) from Sunday to Thursday.^[3]
Companies listed on NASDAQ Dubai include ordinary shares listed by DP World along with DEPA. DP World's initial public offering was the largest ever in the Middle East and raised $4.96 billion;^[4] it was 15 times oversubscribed, and is one of the most valued companies in the Middle East Region.^[5]
NASDAQ Dubai is regulated by Dubai Financial Services Authority.^[6]

Islamic Law (Shariah)

Shariah mainly is based on the versus of the Holy Quran and the teachings and practices of the Prophet Mohammed (the Sunna).  The consensus of opinions and interpretations of religious scholars is considered a secondary source of Shariah. 

In the Area where the majority of the population is Muslim, there is a notable trend for the applications of Shariah. While most of the laws are based on Shariah, specific areas of laws are now increasing adopting  important aspects of Shariah which will be indicated below where GLS has advised and assisted clients.


 
1. Islamic Banking
Except for Saudi Arabia, the banking laws and practices of countries of the Area are generally based on western banking systems. A notable trend for the application of banking based on Shariah (called Islamic Banking) started in the Area in recent years. Islamic Banking could, in theory, be fairly straight forward. In accordance with Shariah Muslims can trade and invest in anything that is accepted (called halal) and not prohibited (haram). Prohibited matters broadly include things that are illegal or immoral such as gambling, prostitution, pornography, alcohol, drugs and similar other matters. The main difficulty arises in the classification of interest charged on funds in Shariah. While some Islamic jurists and scholars consider all types of interest as usury which is prohibited in Shariah, others consider simple interest acceptable and only compounded interest to be prohibited. Although the argument on interest continues, Islamic banking is expanding in the Area where banks and investment funds based on Shariah banking are being established.
For more information see Extracts from the book "UAE Company Law"

2. Inheritance
Shariah provides specific rules of inheritance that are applied to Muslims. Generally these rules are based on the principle of providing specific allocation/shares of the estate of the deceased to certain types of his relatives such spouse or parents and the distribution of the remainder to other heirs such as offsprings, brothers/sisters and uncles/aunts. Shariah rules of inheritance  are applied in the countries in the Area. They might also apply to the assets of a deceased Moslem person in a western jurisdiction or a Moslem resident in such a country. 
3. Wills
Wills might form part of the probate of the estate of a deceased Moslem. Shariah inheritance rules regulate wills by providing that a will can only be applied and valid to a certain portion of the total estate and to specific persons.