ADGM deepens Abu Dhabi’s fund pull

Abu Dhabi Global Market has reported a 36 per cent rise in assets under management for 2025, capping a year in which the international financial centre also expanded its workforce by 51 per cent and lifted active licences to 12,671. The figures, released as ADGM marked its 10th year of operations, underline how strongly Abu Dhabi has been drawing global fund managers, banks and advisory firms seeking closer access to the emirate’s deep pools of capital and widening regional deal flow.

The headline number on assets under management is only part of the story. ADGM said it ended 2025 with 171 asset and fund managers overseeing 244 funds, while 3,769 new licences were issued خلال the year. Its workforce climbed to 44,339 from 29,338 in 2024, a jump that points not only to new registrations but also to a broader thickening of the ecosystem across legal services, fintech, digital assets, banking, sustainability and investment platforms. The centre also said 347 financial institutions are now based there, with 80 licensed during the year.

Those gains fit a pattern that had already been visible through 2025. Reuters reported in September that ADGM’s active companies rose 42 per cent year on year in the first half of 2025 to 2,972, while assets under management were also up 42 per cent from June 2024. That earlier snapshot suggested the latest annual figures were not a one-off spike but part of sustained momentum, fuelled by global firms positioning themselves near Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investors and its expanding role in cross-border private capital, credit and infrastructure finance. Reuters also noted that Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth pools together manage close to $2 trillion, a scale that helps explain why financial institutions increasingly view the city as a strategic base rather than a satellite office.

ADGM’s own list of new and expanding names reflects that shift. Among firms it said established operations or deepened their presence during 2025 were Cantor Fitzgerald, BBVA, Arab Bank Switzerland – Gulf, Circle, Carta, Bitcoin Suisse, Galaxy Digital, iCapital, Skadden and DLA Piper. That breadth matters. It suggests Abu Dhabi is not relying on one niche, such as hedge funds or crypto, but is assembling a more layered financial cluster spanning traditional banking, alternative assets, legal infrastructure, compliance-heavy digital finance and institutional advisory work.

The competitive backdrop also helps frame ADGM’s performance. Gulf financial centres are in an active contest for fund managers, family offices and capital markets activity. Dubai International Financial Centre has been growing quickly as well, with Reuters reporting in February that active firms there rose about 28 per cent by the end of 2025 to roughly 8,840. That leaves Dubai larger by company count, but Abu Dhabi is sharpening a different edge: proximity to state-backed investors, large-scale strategic capital and an increasingly assertive push into asset and wealth management. In practical terms, the two hubs are no longer merely domestic counterparts; they are becoming differentiated platforms within the same national financial architecture.

ADGM has also been using regulation and geography to support that expansion. The National reported that the Financial Services Regulatory Authority issued 120 in-principle approvals and granted 94 new financial services permissions, while ADGM’s footprint across Al Maryah Island and Al Reem Island has helped accommodate the influx of firms and staff. The same report noted that the market value of ADGM-based firms listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange surpassed Dh500 billion by mid-2025, adding another sign that the centre’s growth is feeding into wider capital-markets heft rather than remaining confined to back-office registrations.