Financial institutions, including but not limited to: Citigroup, Standard Chartered, Deloitte and PwC are temporarily closing their offices in Dubai, as well as some other locations in the Persian Gulf.
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After the American-Israeli night attack on one of the banks in Tehran, Iran threatened to retaliate. Iranian armed forces spokesman Ebrahim Zolfakari warned that Iran may attack financial institutions linked to the US and Israel in the Middle East.
Is this the end of Dubai's dreams of being a global financial center? The largest city in the United Arab Emirates since 2004, it has been developing the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), a special economic zone in which it operates almost 300 banks, over 100 hedge funds and 500 other financial companies. The emirate's authorities actively support the development of this sector, striving to strengthen Dubai's position as a global financial center.
See also: Chaos in Dubai after Iran's attacks. “This could have disastrous consequences”
Wall Street is fleeing Dubai
On Wednesday, the American bank Citigroup and British Standard Chartered started evacuating their employees from offices in Dubai, recommending switching to remote work, Reuters reported.
Similar actions were taken by a British consulting company Deloitteas reported by AFP. British in turn PwC has decided to close all of its offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar by the end of the week.
As Bloomberg reported this week, Goldman Sachs and Citi advised employees to leave their offices in Dubai.
“Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are among the companies that gave employees the option of temporary relocation,” Bloomberg found. In turn, the consulting giant McKinsey & Co was supposed to charter a flight to Turkey.
Goldman Sachs is one of the largest investment banks in the world. In turn, PwC and Deloitte belong to the so-called the big four, i.e. the four largest consulting companies.
See also: Where are the rich moving? “There is no other place like this”
Capital is flowing out of Dubai
Since the end of February, the United States and Israel have been bombing Iran, which has responded with attacks on Israel and the Persian Gulf countries. The targets are both American military bases and civilian facilities in the region.
The war is negatively affecting Dubai's position as a key financial center in the Middle East. Reuters experts point to growing concerns about capital outflow, layoffs and relocation of companies to other locations.
