The United Arab Emirates ranks first among nine “emerging” family office centres in a new comparison of 33 jurisdictions by Global Citizen Solutions (GCS), a London-based firm that advises families on residence and citizenship. Khaleej Times and Gulf News reported the results on 18 October 2026: the UAE scored 74.0, including a full 100 for its rules and taxes.
“Where should we set up?” is one of the first questions a new family office faces, so rankings like this get read closely. Here is what this one measures, what it misses and what the UAE offers.
What the Global Citizen Solutions ranking found
The report, “Family Offices: Best Jurisdictions Worldwide”, comes from the GCS Global Intelligence Unit. It compared 33 jurisdictions and ranked 17 in two tables, eight established centres and nine emerging ones, on four weighted pillars: stability and reputation (30%), regime and tax (25%), ecosystem and centre depth (25%), and status and succession (20%).
- UAE: first among emerging centres with 74.0, including 100 for regime and tax and 78 for ecosystem, the best ecosystem score in its group. Khaleej Times says the composite beats four of the eight established centres, naming the US, the UK, Liechtenstein and Monaco.
- Qatar: second with 66.8, also with 100 for regime and tax.
- India, Malaysia and Italy: third to fifth, according to Gulf News.
- Saudi Arabia: eighth with 47.1, with a regime and tax score of 30.
Source: Global Citizen Solutions, Family Offices: Best Jurisdictions Worldwide (updated 14 October 2026), figures 3 and 4. The 16 origin markets were scored but not ranked.
Only six of the 33 clear the median for both the office and the family: Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Canada, Australia and Germany. The UAE is not among them; the report ranks it second of 33 for the office but 28th for the family. Khaleej Times reports that Singapore is the only one of the six with a purpose-built family office regime. The authors advise combining several jurisdictions rather than picking one, citing the UBS Global Family Office Report 2026: 88% of family offices hold financial assets in two or more countries.
All 17 ranked places, pillar by pillar
Each score runs from 0 to 100; the index is the weighted sum of the four pillars.
| Established centres | Index | Stability (30%) | Regime and tax (25%) | Ecosystem (25%) | Status and succession (20%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore | 89.7 | 92 | 100 | 82 | 83 |
| Switzerland | 80.5 | 100 | 48 | 75 | 99 |
| Hong Kong | 78.6 | 79 | 100 | 71 | 61 |
| Luxembourg | 76.7 | 100 | 54 | 57 | 94 |
| United States | 70.4 | 80 | 35 | 100 | 64 |
| United Kingdom | 67.0 | 88 | 24 | 87 | 65 |
| Liechtenstein | 63.1 | 99 | 73 | 12 | 61 |
| Monaco | 53.8 | 76 | 44 | 32 | 60 |
| Emerging centres | Index | Stability (30%) | Regime and tax (25%) | Ecosystem (25%) | Status and succession (20%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAE | 74.0 | 68 | 100 | 78 | 45 |
| Qatar | 66.8 | 70 | 100 | 47 | 45 |
| India | 66.5 | 55 | 88 | 65 | 59 |
| Malaysia | 65.1 | 64 | 97 | 37 | 61 |
| Italy | 58.6 | 71 | 23 | 50 | 96 |
| Uruguay | 52.4 | 80 | 41 | 0 | 91 |
| Portugal | 51.8 | 83 | 11 | 18 | 99 |
| Saudi Arabia | 47.1 | 61 | 30 | 49 | 45 |
| Panama | 46.8 | 29 | 78 | 2 | 91 |
What “emerging” means in this ranking
“Emerging” here does not mean small or new. Gulf News explains that the method separates places that wrote rules specifically to attract family offices from places where the industry grew up first. The label describes history, not maturity.
The report’s central argument, per Khaleej Times, is that terms open the door but an ecosystem keeps families there. Terms can be written within a budget cycle; the industry behind them takes a decade. By the report’s own logic, the UAE’s ecosystem score of 78 says more than its 100 for regime and tax. For the richest business families already based there, see our list of the UAE’s richest families.
What a ranking like this cannot tell a family
Who wrote it. GCS sells residence and citizenship advice. Its founder and chief executive, Patricia Casaburi, is quoted by Khaleej Times as saying the firm treats mobility as “part of a family office’s diversification strategy”. That is a fair view, and also the firm’s business.
What a score compresses. A 100 for regime and tax hides conditions. In the UAE, a family office company pays federal corporate tax of 9% on profit above AED 375,000 unless it qualifies for the 0% free zone rate, and that rate covers only “qualifying” income. The Federal Tax Authority said in September 2025 that a free zone family office holding only a licence, without oversight by a UAE regulator, does not get 0% on its wealth and fund management income.
What the data can see. Most family offices are private, so counting them is hard. Singapore has an official figure of sorts: its central bank says more than 2,000 single family offices were receiving its fund tax incentives at the end of 2025. The report’s own database records just 62 there, and the authors call its counts a floor.
Your family. Tax depends first on where each family member lives, not only on where the office sits. A ranking cannot know where your heirs live or which inheritance rules follow them.
What the UAE actually offers a family office
A family in the UAE usually chooses between three centres, each covered in our guides:
- DIFC, Dubai: a family office licensed by the DIFC Registrar under the Family Arrangements Regulations 2023, for families with at least USD 50 million in net assets, with DIFC laws and English-language courts.
- ADGM, Abu Dhabi: English common law applied directly, and a single family office licence for families with at least USD 10 million in net assets.
- DMCC, Dubai: a free zone with Family Office Rules in force since 10 October 2024, open to applicants with at least USD 1 million in investible or liquid assets.
Across all three, the UAE levies no income tax on individuals, and no inheritance, estate or gift tax appears in the official UAE list of taxes. Investors with at least AED 2 million in UAE property or certain investments can apply for a 10-year Golden Visa.
According to a Dubai Media Office release of 28 July 2026, DIFC had 1,408 family-related entities at the end of June 2026, up 36% in a year, and 1,409 foundations, up 67%. Our comparisons of DIFC and ADGM and of DIFC and Singapore put the rules side by side.
A fair caveat
The scores in our chart and table come from the report’s own tables, which its page shows only as images; the two newspapers describe some of them differently, and Gulf News gives separate scores of 100 for regulation and for taxation. UAE rules also move fast: ADGM’s single family office minimum has changed twice since 2024. Treat the scores as one firm’s snapshot, not a verdict.
Five lessons to take away
- Check who wrote the ranking. A firm that sells residence and citizenship will give mobility a lot of weight.
- Look inside the headline score. A perfect tax score can hide conditions that decide what you actually pay.
- Read “emerging” as a history, not a size. It describes how a centre built its rules, not how deep its market is.
- Weigh the ecosystem more than the terms. Rules can change in a year, while courts, trustees and advisers take a decade.
- Start with the family, then choose the place. Where people live and where assets sit decide more than any table.
Questions to bring to your advisors
Where are our family members tax resident today, and where might they be in ten years? Which UAE centre’s entry rules and courts fit our structure, and would our office’s income qualify for the 0% rate? Would a second centre add resilience or only cost? These are questions to bring to your advisors, not advice.
