Lighthouse Canton Insights Podcast - EP 6: Dubai's Financial Silk Road - DIFC's Vision for Global Investment

This podcast was recorded on 18 July 2024 and was prepared based on the information available on the date of recording. 

In this episode, we explore how recent economic shifts, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, are reshaping global investment strategies. Salmaan Jaffery from Dubai International Financial Centre, DIFC and Prashant Tandon, of Lighthouse Canton discuss why markets like India and the UAE are becoming key hubs for wealth management. They highlight the unique advantages of the DIFC and the importance of its regulatory environment in attracting global investors. The conversation also touches on the significant intergenerational wealth transfer expected in the coming years and how financial centers are preparing for a new generation of investors. 

Thank you, and we hope you will find these conversations insightful. 

Transcript

Introduction 
 
Hello and welcome! 
You're listening to the Lighthouse Canton Insights Podcast. 
This series is brought to you by Lighthouse Canton, a global investment institution that provides wealth and asset management services to accredited investors. 

Here on this podcast, we look to shine a light on the market developments and share strategic insights to help you navigate the global investment landscape. 

In each episode, we'll be bringing you conversations from leading experts in various fields, including Lighthouse Canton's own investment team and specialists. 
This podcast was recorded on 18th of July 2024 and was prepared based on information available as of the date of recording.
 
Please stay tuned for the important information at the end of this episode.
 
Samantha - 00:57 
Welcome to this episode of the Lighthouse Canton Insights Podcast. 

The world of finance has always been dynamic, but recent years have seen an unprecedented acceleration of change. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as an initial catalyst, speeding up transformations that were already in motion. However, this was just the beginning of a period of intense global upheaval. 
 
World events have sent shockwaves through global markets and supply chains. 
Central banks worldwide have rapidly shifted gears, raising interest rates at a pace not seen in decades to combat surge in inflation. Meanwhile, election seasons in major economies have added another layer of uncertainty, with potential policy shifts hanging in the balance. 

These events haven't created new trends so much as they've dramatically accelerated existing ones, compressing years of change into months. 
 
So today, we speak to Salmaan Jaffery, Chief Business Development Officer, Dubai International Financial Centre, DIFC and Prashant Tandon, Managing Director and CEO for UAE at Lighthouse Canton to examine how these accelerated shifts are reshaping the world global asset and wealth management. 

We'll explore how investors are adapting to this new reality and how financial sensors like the DIFC are evolving to meet changing needs. 

Welcome Salmaan and Prashant. Thank you both for joining us today.
 
Prashant - 02:24
Thank you Samantha for having me on this podcast. It's a pleasure. Thank you.

Salmaan - 02:29
Likewise. Thank you Samantha. It's a pleasure to be here and it's always good to talk to Prashant.

Samantha - 02:34
Great. So today I wanted to just touch on the bigger picture here as we begin. Given that both the DIFC and Lighthouse Canton works with global investors and the current global financial landscape and how it has evolved in recent years, how do you see global investors adapting their focus?

Prashant - 02:55 
Samantha, I'll take this first.  

So obviously, you know, we live in fairly interesting times. The financial landscape globally, is becoming extremely challenging and unpredictable. 
Whether it is the unfortunate situation in Ukraine, Israel, or the economic uncertainty surrounding China, and even the recent few weeks of events, even the political landscape in the US, investors are really faced with a very tricky situation and the landscape is becoming more and more challenging every passing day. 

What we've seen as an investor focus over the recent past is clearly the focus is shifting eastward, if I were to look at the west part of the world. And to put it lightly, it's either Mumbai or Dubai. 
 
India and the UAE have come out as really, really areas of focus for institutional and family office investors alike, and that's a trend we believe will continue to develop even more strongly. 

And why not? If you really look at the developed part of the world and any major economy, UAE and India are perhaps the only two economies which are growing in real terms. The real rate of GDP growth in India is at 7%, whereas inflation stands at 5%. And in UAE, the rate of growth is 4% and inflation stands at 2%. As against that, if you look at the US or if you look at any other major economy, the Eurozone, the rate of inflation is higher than the rate of GDP growth. 

Salmaan, what are your thoughts?
 
Salmaan - 04:27 
Thanks Prashant, I think we started this conversation with a nice encapsulation of structural factors. And I think From our vantage point, our geography gives us a very interesting perch. 

I think there are a few things happening. I think one is that we're seeing, as you've suggested, a fundamental shift and movement of both talent and capital. As Prashant and Samantha mentioned, there are different motivations for this. For some movement of capital and talent, it's because of tax changes or regulatory changes.And of course, let's not forget COVID, which created just a completely new model for how to work and where to work.  

So one of the examples that we used to see here is that, as COVID, you no longer needed to be necessarily in San Francisco to be doing tech. Or similarly, you didn't have to be in New York or Connecticut to do hedge funds. And in fact, what happened in the US, it was a microcosm for what happened globally. So the tech firms started to hollow out of San Francisco into Texas, and hedge funds started to hollow out from New York and Connecticut into Florida. 

And that same thing, if you apply the same principle, you start to see that for our part of the world. And certainly we've seen a lot of that. 
 
The other thing I'll quickly touch upon, is that Prashant talked about the focus changing from east to west. I think demography is still destiny. I think what you see now is the importance of large and young populations driving economic growth, and where economic growth changes, as Prashant knows, so goes financial flows. 

So just to kind of summarize, we are seeing many of the same changes. I think capital and talent fundamentally is changing, and this region in particular, as Prashant mentioned, UAE and India are very well positioned for it.
 
Prashant - 06:41
Salman, if I might add to what you just said, especially markets like the DIFC and of course India, the need for a stable, predictable and well-regulated financial environment is absolutely a key factor, which we at least are witnessing with our clients. That becomes an important factor when they consider a jurisdiction where they want to operate out of, where they want to call a base. In that respect, I think the DIFC really stands tall as far as the region is concerned.

Salmaan - 07:10 
Yeah, I mean Prashant, you and I have spoken about this before. I mean financial services, if you view financial services one way, it's a series of essentially enforceable contracts, right? So you need regulatory and legal certainty. The rule of law has to be understood, has to be transparent, and all the participants need to know that it is applied in that consistent transparent manner with recourse, right? Because sometimes things don't work out the way they ought to. 

And so we're 20 years old and that thinking underscores or underpins the development of the centre as an English common law based financial centre that's always strived to meet and exceed some kind of global best practice. 

And so now when you are essentially vying for top talent and capital from major markets around the world, the proposition has to be. It's a hygiene factor. There's just no question. We have to operate at a very, very high level both in terms of legal and regulatory quality and certainty. But you need the protective filters to be able to ensure that esteemed clients such as Lighthouse are happy to put their name in a jurisdiction that stands for quality and that is run the right way. 

So yeah, that's a long-winded way of saying that we take compliance and regulatory quality very seriously.  

Prashant - 08:43 

I couldn't agree more, Salmaan. Thank you.
 
Samantha - 08:46
And Salman, so congratulations on that 20th anniversary and the DIFC is playing a really pivotal role in driving economic growth and innovation in the region. The standards and the regulations that you have talked to in that sense, could you elaborate and share a bit more on what initiatives specifically that the DIFC is undertaking to make it a financial centre of choice for ultra high net worth individuals and accredited investors?

Salmaan - 09:16 
Yeah sure, let's take a step back and talk big picture. Going back to Prashant's earlier point, we obviously take the reputation of the Centre very seriously, and so, even though it is my job to bring in as many top people and companies from around the world, I can tell you that we could be five times bigger if we wanted to. If we didn't apply very 
significant screening to the quality. When I say that, I mean not just brand and reputation, but very rigorous screening in terms of being compliant with various global sanctions regimes, ensuring that background checks are done. Sources of funds are documented and auditable and known, KYC-ing every single individual or firm that comes into the Centre. All of those things are very well embedded into the DNA of the Centre.  

And touch wood, this has given us the privilege of working with quality institutions such as, you know, Lighthouse Canton, right? That's a non-negotiable must-have and I think we've done really, really well. 

Some other things that I'd say in addition to that, it cannot come at the expense of customer experience, and so, what we've tried to do is to maintain those standards but also innovate. So we continue to, you know, develop and modify Our company's law to ensure that we have the financial and legal products to be able to meet the needs of our clients and we can talk about this later but like the development of world-class trust law, foundations, things like that. 

And then one last thing I'll say is part of the customer experience is, looking at things perhaps as operational as digitizing the onboarding process and ensuring that the touch points can be as seamless and efficient as possible.
 
Samantha - 11:16 
That's really interesting to hear Salmaan, thanks for that. 

So we've heard from Prashant as well as you about the shifts of focus at Lighthouse. We are in the Middle East and South Asia and Asia Pacific. We've access to several notable international financial centres, such as Singapore and GIFT City. 

And I wanted to hear your thoughts Salmaan and Prashant on your perspectives on what trends you see between these regions, these localities and what also makes the DIFC a compelling choice for investors.
 
Salmaan - 11:49 
Okay, thank you. It's actually a super question and something that's really interesting and varied. 

You might at first blush assume that we are in some kind of zero-sum competitive battle with respective jurisdictions around the world. And honestly, this is not really the case. 
And I say that with a great amount. Of course, cities want to be able to attract the very best companies and get the largest number of best people. But I feel as though when it comes to economic corridors and regions where there's market access, I think there is great room for working together. 
 
Prashant talked about the rise of India. So that's a great example. India and the UAE have signed a $100 billion trade deal recently. The political and economic and social histories of the two countries are immensely strong. 

And so our interaction with India, which is this massive market, is based on the principle that we can both simultaneously provide leading Indian firms, whether they're banks or families or advisors or asset managers, with access to the larger region in a manner that benefits the Indian economy as well. 
 

And so to use GIFT City as an example, we have a memorandum of understanding that we signed with GIFT City actually quite some time ago. We are looking forward to working with them much more closely to find ways that we can help each other mutually. 

So for example, it's no secret that's in the public domain that Indian capital markets story over the next 10, 15, 20 years is going to be an absolute world changer, right? And so we will be interested in finding new ways to create structures that facilitate those flows, those dollar or let's say non-Indian repeat flows into India. That's just one example.  

Conversely, if we can play a role to help Indian families diversify, you know, their wealth regionally or globally, we will continue to do that. So that's just one example.
And I'll pause at that. I'm eager to hear Prashant’s views.
 
Prashant - 14:04 
So, it's very interesting that, you know, you mentioned those points because they really align with Lighthouse Canton and personally, of course, I think. See, DIFC, UAE in general and DIFC in particular are actually very uniquely positioned. 
 

Of course, geographically, you're literally the center of the world. So, coverage east to west, very, very convenient. It's very efficient and operationally very, very economical for businesses like ours. So, definitely from a time zone perspective, this region is very well favored. 
 

On top of that, post-COVID, Salman, you mentioned that a while earlier, the UAE really, really stood out in how they supported businesses, on how the businesses just continued to work remotely, the infrastructure, the whole ecosystem just continued to function. 
 
And that really put the DIFC, in particular in UAE in general, as an example, not only regionally, but on a global landscape, on how things can be executed without compromising health, safety and well-being. Specifically, you know, what we are seeing from ultra-high net worth families and single family offices that we cover, There are increasingly specific requests for helping these families find a base in the UAE and DIFC as a jurisdiction to book their business in. 
 

And there are a multitude of reasons, a few we just covered. But if you look at this, you know, the regulatory regime, the stability, political and economic stability, the safety, the infrastructure this place provides both from a business standpoint, from a lifestyle standpoint, is truly unparalleled. 
 

Add to that the facilitators or the catalysts that have just been put in place, be it the comprehensive economic participation agreement between UAE and India, be it the concept of GIFT city, which is really to me going to be a game changer for the next decade or so on how India looks at offshore investments and vice versa. 

 
These are all factors which are really going to act as a major catalyst for the DIFC and I think Lighthouse is very well positioned to be able to exploit that opportunity.
 
Samantha - 16:09 
Alright, thanks Prashant and Salmaan for that. 
 

We've talked a lot about both the family offices and corporate sort of side of things in terms of why the DIFC is setting up a great environment and landscape for them. 

I just wanted to touch a bit more on the personal legacies part of things. I think it was last year the DIFC announced Family arrangements regulations, as well as the family wealth centre. Seeing that we are getting more requests, I mean, from Lighthouse Canton, we're getting more requests from clients as well, as I'm sure at the DIFC, you're getting quite a few family offices and wealth managers looking to set up in the DIFC.
What are some of the key challenges and considerations, Prashant, from your end, that you're seeing from clients, for example?
 
Prashant - 17:00 
That's a very relevant question actually. ​​See, for any large business or any relevant family office which has global ambitions and footprints, as the families prepare their so-called future leaders, the place of domicile becomes extremely important–from a succession planning point of view, from a legacy planning point of view, from 
ring-fencing of assets, tax considerations, financial considerations. 

It is an extremely important point of consideration for any meaningful family office. And when it comes to that, people have always been looking at financial centres like Singapore, Hong Kong, the US, but DIFC has really, really started to feature very prominently inbound requests that we receive from clients. Whether it is the legal system that the DIFC is offering to its clients, whether it is the structures like foundations and trusts, because please understand not each family has a different and unique set of requirements. 
 

I'll give you a small example when it comes to trust and foundations. 
 
DIFC fortunately provides both regimes. One is a common law construct, the other is a civil law construct. Now it depends upon what the preference of the family is, what are the unique dynamics and requirements for a family, you can tap onto either. Both are run very equally robustly, both are run very transparently and very well regulated, very efficiently managed. 

 
Likewise, about ring-fencing of assets, about having foreign ownership, clearly creating distinct ownership structures, the DRC regime is very, very helpful, very clearly laid out and I must say that a client coming in To book business in the DIFC, whether he's coming from India, UK, Germany, Singapore, or Hong Kong, they really do not feel any difference compared to any top financial centre in the world. Add to that the top class infrastructure DIFC has to offer, the experience just becomes outstanding. 
 
And at Lighthouse Canton again, we really, really see this as one of our faster growing regions as far as business and number of clients are concerned. 
 

Salmaan, I'm sure you are much closer to the action than I am. Would you want to discuss something about the family arrangement regulations, the family wealth centre, which I find very exciting.
 
Salmaan - 19:18 
Thanks, Prashant Let me take a step back and tackle this question from a 30,000 foot level. 
 

The reason why we're talking about this is that the backdrop is that according to UBS, in the next 25 years, something like $83 trillion of wealth is going to go through intergenerational wealth transfer. And this is just essentially post-war demographics, particularly in larger industrial markets. So this is a global phenomenon. It's hitting different markets in different ways. 
 

Against that backdrop and against the specifics of this region where families contribute massive amounts to regional economies in terms of job creation, right? The question of how they manage the businesses that produce their wealth, and then how they manage their wealth from Gen 1 to Gen 2 into Gen 3 is super, super important. 
 

Okay, so that's the backdrop. 
 

Now, the DIFC has been super committed to the larger project of industrializing and professionalizing this vast amount of private capital, particularly in the region, but not just. Now that has some other implications. As a region, for example, we have traditionally had a reputation for being flush with liquidity particularly from hydrocarbons and the sovereign wealth funds here are globally well known as major investors. 

 
But we think there's another social phenomenon at play which is there's something like five or six trillion dollars of private wealth embedded in families, which is an amount almost as large as the combined sovereign wealth funds here in the region. 
 
And 20% of that is going through the same process. And so I think regional economies, and in our case the DIFC, we have to be prepared to serve the needs of those families. 
Now it so happens because of some of the things that Prashant has mentioned, that phenomenon is not just a GCC-UE phenomenon, but because of this globalization of wealth management and of family wealth, families that are perhaps in India or perhaps in Singapore or perhaps in Europe are also diversifying and using the DIY as a place from where to manage their business and wealth. 
 

And just to be clear, the beauty of this is this is not coming at the expense of any one market or the other. It is not that families are picking up everything and moving it from place A to place B. It's simply that our clients are looking just to diversify and to spread the risk a bit more evenly between jurisdictions. 

So just to summarize, you know, the products and the services that Prashant has mentioned that, you know, our clients use for themselves and for their clients have been designed to be seamless, to be recognizable for individuals who have worked around the world in leading jurisdictions. And our objective is to continue to serve, serve their needs.
 
Samantha - 22:29 
Salmaan, that's really interesting, you know, the whole transfer of wealth and the next generation of wealth and how the different generations see investments. The talk about diversification and spreading risk, I think, you know, I had a very interesting conversation with a colleague who said when he's talking to the younger generation that it's now not really about capital preservation, but more on conservative growth. 

 
The older generation still wants to preserve that capital and look at fixed income products, while the younger generation is focusing on maintaining that balance while still looking for growth opportunities. And maybe we can talk a bit more about the initiatives that the DIFC has been doing at the moment in actively attracting a variety of asset managers to establish them in the DIFC. 

 
Maybe if Salmaan you would want to talk a bit more about what's driving this migration trend and elaborate on the factors driving it?
 
Salmaan - 23:25 
Sure. What we're seeing now is this unprecedented confluence of a number of factors, right? So we've talked about the wealth that comes out of the ground. We've talked about the wealth embedded in families. Of course, as Prashant has mentioned, we have this massive number of individuals. And all of this is coming together at the same time at which the centre is now viewed no longer as a new upstart centre. We're 20 years old. We have the world's leading managers. 

 
And so you put that together, first of all, The Family Wealth Centre was designed just to give a bit more formality to that enterprise, which is since we engage with families around the world, we think it's very important to create that ecosystem where families will find it very useful and powerful to be embedded in an ecosystem where you have top-notch investment opportunities, advisors, financial intermediaries, underlying assets or investment opportunities, and piece of that is essentially to have top-notch investment managers to be able to manage money on their behalf. 

In that area, we've had asset managers for over 20 years. But the last two years or so, we've seen an incredible inflow of faults, alternative investment managers and hedge funds. And I think they're being driven. The inflow initially was because of many of the things that Prashant mentioned, which is post-COVID, realignment of capital and talent, the safety and security that Dubai affords, the schooling, lifestyle and housing. 
 
But from a financial services perspective, all of that in an environment that's considered to be stable and it works. So they've been coming here in droves. I think what's really significant, Prashant, and I'd love to get your views on this. One of the things that's changed in this business is, it's no longer about client coverage, it's about portfolio management. 

So the buy side is now interested not just in managing a particular capital relationship, but they're actually putting investment people, portfolio managers here with support and research and coverage. And I think that's a really, really good story. 

So just to summarize, for me, the asset management and hedge fund story is intrinsically linked with the broader wealth and family story. And now we're going to start to see these pay dividends in the coming years.
 
Prashant - 25:59 
Very valid, Salmaan, and you just spoke about this intergenerational wealth transfer and we are actually witnessing it firsthand in how we are seeing the client engagement model evolve with Lighthouse Canton in a short span of 10 years. 
 

Earlier it was more a high touch, personal interaction-driven, relationship-driven portfolio management exercise. With the new generation taking over, it's become a lot more impersonal, on-the-go model of engagement. Clients not only need immediate access to information and immediate execution capabilities, but how they're investing in executing is also changed. 
 

Samantha spoke about conservative growth and I couldn't agree more. There is a very, very clear preference for not only investing for growth, but investing responsibly. There is a very clear focus on ESG considerations, there's a very clear focus on investing in living and breathing businesses, what we call active investing rather than passive investing. 
 
The new generation of investors is very interested in private markets. Something very interesting that was highlighted to me by one of my teammates, is that only about 5 or 6% of global businesses are listed. A significant majority, which is more than 90% of global businesses, are actually held privately. 
 

So with this growing interest in investing in private markets, whether it is credit, whether it is private equity, whether it's a startup ecosystem, is also something that we're seeing as a trend–whether investing in new age businesses or new age asset classes. 
The whole blockchain crypto as an asset class virtually never existed maybe a couple of years ago or didn't exist as prolifically as it does now. Now, we have clients expressing specific requests to allocate money to these assets. 
 
On the other hand, client requirements we see have transcended beyond just managing a portfolio of investments. From the vantage point that Lighthouse Canton sits, client requirements are way beyond managing their portfolios. They include services like succession planning, helping clients in their business and family governance, structuring of the business and family footprint, real estate advisory, philanthropy advisory, and of course lifestyle management. And that definitely becomes very, very interesting. 
 

Yet a very high bar for entry and that's where again you're finding it very interesting with right house canton standpoint because we've managed to build capabilities on a significant boat, but also for the DIFC where we are present as a very near and dear financial centre for us we see that being very proactively followed where we see several initiatives being taken by the DIFC Which support the whole new age startup ecosystem, the whole tech savvy nature of the infrastructure here, the way we engage with Salmaan and his team, the way we engage with our regulators is very slick, very new age.
 
Salmaan - 28:56 
Yeah Prashant, if I might just add a comment to what you just said. I think your description of how we work together is really a manifestation of how we've changed over the years. We've always been very client-focused, but I think one of the things that we have realized and we're executing on is that, our role–if our objective is to add value to our clients–our role has to change. 
 

If you asked me before my time here, let's say 10 years ago, the DIFC's role was probably limited to giving you space and offering you a license. And I think since then, I think the flow of our kind of direction has been to partner and enable much more proactively. 
 

Do I think we're in the advisory space? No, not yet. But I think we're heading in the direction of being a lot more consultative and collaborative because that is what clients demand, right? 
 

And so, for example, whether it is working closely with clients such as you, Prashant, to get feedback on how to adjust or tweak our products, or whether it is launching our partner program, which is a child partner program, whether it is going to market together with our clients in jurisdictions where it's mutually beneficial or whether it is organizing events where, you know, clients are able to enhance or grow their business. 
 

I mean, you've hit it on the head. This is something which I think will continue. And just going back to your earlier comment on the Family Wealth Centre, this is another example of trying to create the specific economic and social conditions for the ecosystem to come together.  

You mentioned the Innovation Hub. The innovation hub we started six years ago or maybe five years ago and we had over a thousand companies and it's remarkable because when it works well people say that ideas are circulated, and technology are developed, the investors are walking around, so we want to continue that kind of collaboration in all the sectors that we operate.
 
Samantha - 31:07 
Thanks Salmaan. I think as we're coming to the end of our conversation, I wanted to wrap things up and focus on two key themes we've been seeing in this conversation: Innovation and talent. 
 

So, Prashant and Salmaan, how do you feel the DIFC has positioned itself as a leading global financial hub? And what innovations and initiatives have contributed to this rapid growth and attractiveness to international businesses and talent?
 
Prashant - 31:31 
There's something I would like to cover when we spoke about talent and innovation, something that really is relevant for our business here. 
 

Given our experience with different international financial centres, I've found as a business owner now over the last few years, attracting and retaining talent in the DIFC is far more easy and far more efficient for us. 

 
Whether it is the ease of getting business visas, whether it is giving eligible employees a golden visa to work and live in the UAE, whether it is allowing businesses, foreign businesses to own 100% stake in a business in the DIFC, to small things but very meaningful in my opinion is the alignment of the working week to a Monday to Friday working week. 
 

You know, things happened so fast and in such a meaningful and efficient manner, it's hard to believe. I often tell my clients and business partners this, what the UAE and the DIFC did during COVID was implement decades worth of reforms in maybe months.
And that's something which, you know, someone said about speed of execution. That's something that's really, really commendable and how it impacts our business in a tangible manner. 

 
And I just address two points here: going from a Sunday to Thursday working week to a Monday to Friday working week, just adding one extra working day to our lives here in the UAE. And that's 20% efficiency. 

 
Likewise, the ease of attracting talent to the centre is just unparalleled because getting work visas for eligible employees is far more seamless and efficient than most financial centres in the world. Those are the two points I'd like to add.
 
Samantha - 33:10
Salman, do you have anything to add to that?

Salmaan - 33:12 
I would simply say that the requirements of being a global financial centre are that, we have to behave in a manner that befits global clients and so if there's one thing that we've tried to do is to keep up with our considerably talented client base, and I think when you're client-centric and you listen to your clients, your clients, you know, inevitably know more than you in their domain expertise. 

 
And so, when we are successful, it is when we are listening very closely to the feedback that we get from clients. Clients are not here for the sun and the beach and the great schooling, right? They're here to create value and to be financially successful.
And we take that responsibility very seriously. I think that's a cultural attribute that we have that we are very proud of and we will continue to listen very closely to our clients.
 
One other data point for you and I think it's worth mentioning that to echo Prashant’s observations. It is no surprise that the DIFC has doubled in size in three years. Three and a half years ago we were 19,000 people. And we're over 42,000, the actual numbers we will reveal in our mid-year results next week. But that's quite remarkable. This is a doubling of really high caliber individuals from around the world who are at the top of their games in financial services, in technology, in law, in advisory and consulting, right?
And that only happens when the platform is demonstrably sound and people are being successful here.
 
I completely appreciate Prashant’s point there.
 
Samantha - 34:55 
Thanks Salman and Prashant for your insights. That's been really fascinating to hear about how the DIFC has been evolving, and how it has become a hub for the families and businesses in the region. 

 
I wanted to thank you both for sharing your insights and perspectives, all of the innovation and talent initiatives as well. It's clear that we're living in a time of rapid and unprecedented change and the Middle East is poised to embrace and benefit from these opportunities. 
 

With all the change and development that the DIFC has done over the years, I'm really excited to see how it will continue to play out in this dynamic and evolving ecosystem.
Thank you to you both Salmaan and Prashant.
 
Prashant - 35:42
Thank you, Samantha, for having me on the podcast.
Salmaan, it's always a pleasure to speak with you.

Salmaan - 35:46
Thank you, Samantha, and thank you as always, Prashant.

Samantha - 35:49
Thank you for listening and stay tuned for more episodes of the Lighthouse Canton Insights Podcast.

Extro - 35:57 
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