Dubai
International Financial Centre Authority have appointed two chiefs of
different sections
Dubai International Financial Centre Authority (DIFCA), which governs the
emirate’s financial freezone, said it will be split into two separate
entities with new senior management to help boost its growth plans.
The organisation will be divided into DIFC Authority, the business
development and legislation arm, and DIFC Properties which will manage the
centre’s real estate portfolio.
Jeff Singer, the former chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai, will head DIFC
Authority and Nabil Ramadhan was named acting chief executive of the
properties arm.
DIFC Authority’s present chief executive Abdulla Al Awar was appointed as
advisor to the Board of Directors.
In a separate statement, Nasdaq Dubai said it had appointed Hamed Ali as
chief operating officer after Singer’s resignation.
DIFCA appointed Abdul Aziz al-Ghurair as its new chairman of the board in
April.
The DIFC Authority develops policies and oversees the strategic development
and administration of the DubaiInternational Financial Centre (DIFC), which
houses the offices of many global banks, asset managers, insurers and law
firms.
Earlier this month (July), DIFCA said the DIFC accounted for 1.4 percent of
the United Arab Emirates’ economic activity.
Announcement will not affect Nasdaq Dubai, which is located in DIFC, and is
not a move towards a full merger with its sister bourse, the Dubai Financial
Market (DFM), Singer told Reuters after the announcement.
“Nasdaq Dubai and DFM have already merged as much as we need to merge – we
merged the back office and the only thing that would bring them closer
together would be for us to trade in dirhams,” said Singer.
“We have the same members, systems, processes.”
Nasdaq Dubai stocks trade in dollars, although the exchange announced plans
for dirham trading in 2008.
