By Safaa Subhi
London is no longer the only destination for the world’s wealthiest families seeking to manage their fortunes and global investments. In recent years, some family offices have begun reassessing their traditional bases, driven by tax and regulatory changes and a search for financial and legal environments better suited to managing cross-border wealth.
The shift comes as family offices take on an increasingly important role. Their responsibilities now extend far beyond managing investment portfolios to include intergenerational wealth planning, deal financing, risk management, private investments, asset exits and dispute resolution.
London Loses Some of Its Luster
For decades, Britain’s tax system was a major draw for wealthy international residents, particularly through the “non-dom” regime, which offered certain foreign residents preferential tax treatment on overseas income and assets.
That system ended in April 2025, when Britain moved to a new framework based more heavily on residency and length of stay. Under the new rules, some residents face broader exposure to taxes on foreign income and gains.
The scope of inheritance tax was also expanded in certain cases to cover overseas assets held by people who meet long-term residency requirements, including those who have been resident in the U.K. for at least 10 of the previous 20 years.
For wealthy families, these changes are not simply about an annual tax bill. They can affect how wealth is structured, protected and transferred to the next generation. As a result, decisions over where to locate a family office—and how to structure companies, investment vehicles and trusts—have become increasingly tied to tax and legal considerations.
Still, it would be misleading to assume that taxes alone explain every decision to move a family office out of London. Family offices are highly private by nature and often do not disclose details of their investment structures or the reasons behind relocating staff and operations between financial centers.
Why Dubai?
If Britain’s tax changes are one potential push factor, they do not fully explain why some wealthy families are turning to Dubai. The decision also reflects the emirate’s broader financial and legal infrastructure, as well as its location at the intersection of capital flows between the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
A key part of that ecosystem is the Dubai International Financial Centre, which operates under a legal and regulatory framework based on principles of English common law. That can provide investment firms and family offices accustomed to the British legal environment with a degree of familiarity and continuity.
The center has an independent regulator and specialized courts, alongside a broad network of banks, asset managers, investment firms and legal and advisory services. That infrastructure matters to families managing investments across multiple markets who want wealth management to extend beyond traditional banking services.
Dubai’s proximity to Gulf markets is another factor for families whose core businesses are concentrated in the region. Establishing an investment office in a global financial center within the Gulf can allow families to separate wealth management from operating businesses while keeping decision-makers close to the markets and companies that account for a significant share of their wealth.
A Broader Shift
The data suggest that this is not an isolated trend. The Dubai International Financial Centre saw a significant increase in the number of entities associated with family businesses, rising from about 600 to 1,035 in the first half of 2025, an increase of roughly 73%.
The growth reflects a broader shift in the global wealth-management landscape, with Dubai increasingly competing with established financial centers in Europe and Asia for family offices seeking a combination of market access, legal infrastructure and specialized financial services.
But competition among financial centers is not determined by taxes alone. Families managing substantial fortunes are not simply looking for the lowest tax rate. They also need legal stability, privacy within the law, asset-management services, succession planning, financing, risk protection and access to investment expertise.
Capital Seeks Stability
The movement of wealth-management operations between London and Dubai points to a broader change in how major business families think about their fortunes. As cross-border wealth becomes more complex, choosing a location for a family office has become a strategic decision almost as important as choosing an investment.
Taxes may prompt some wealthy families to reconsider where they are based, but tax incentives alone are not enough to attract or retain large pools of capital. Wealth ultimately seeks clear rules, stable institutions, effective courts, sophisticated financial services and an environment that supports long-term planning.
Dubai’s rise as a family-office hub, therefore, should not be viewed simply as the result of London losing some of its appeal. It is part of a broader redistribution of global wealth-management centers. Tax incentives may provide an initial attraction, but regulatory clarity, institutional efficiency and the ability to serve families across generations are likely to play a central role in determining where that wealth ultimately settles.