Capital Market Authority (CMA), the federal regulator of the UAE’s securities and commodities markets, stated it permitted 3,170 licenses in 2025, a whopping enhance of practically 150 per cent from the 1,272 licenses issued in 2024.
This represents one of many highest annual will increase within the Authority’s historical past, reflecting a sustained rise in market participation and regulatory engagement.
The continued growth in market exercise and a deeper investor participation have been additionally evident from robust efficiency throughout key regulatory and market indicators throughout the 12 months.
Elevated market participation in 2025 was accompanied by a considerable growth in belongings underneath administration throughout the funds and portfolio administration panorama, underscoring the growing scale and institutional maturity of the market.
Funds and portfolio administration scale up
Throughout the UAE, belongings underneath administration reached roughly $470 billion. Inside this broader market context, the Authority’s regulatory oversight was mirrored in robust progress throughout funds and portfolio administration actions underneath its supervision.
The continued breadth of market growth was additional evident within the growth of the native funding funds panorama. Throughout 2025, the variety of regionally domiciled funding funds grew by roughly 322 per cent.
The full variety of funds underneath the Authority’s oversight, together with passported funds, rose by roughly 66 per cent, growing from 119 in 2024 to 197 in 2025.
This growth displays a broader and extra diversified vary of funding methods and buildings being established inside the market, enhancing alternative for each particular person and institutional buyers and contributing to larger market depth and long-term resilience.
Waleed Saeed Al Awadhi, Chief Government Officer of the Capital Market Authority, stated: “The Authority’s efficiency in 2025 displays the continued growth of the UAE’s capital markets and the effectiveness of its regulatory framework.
“The rise in licensing exercise and the growth of managed belongings exhibit rising confidence within the regulatory surroundings and the power of market participation.
“Trying forward, the Authority will proceed to boost its supervisory method and regulatory instruments to maintain tempo with market developments. It will be certain that progress is supported by strong governance, transparency, and efficient investor safety. Collectively, these developments level to a deepening pool of long-term capital and reinforces UAE’s rising function as a regional and worldwide hub for institutional funding.”
Alongside these market developments, the interval was adopted by essential regulatory updates to the capital markets framework. Federal decree legal guidelines governing the Capital Market Authority and the regulation of capital markets got here into impact in 2026, reinforcing the foundations that underpin the securities and commodities markets.
