Frankfurt and Dubai

The European Commission removed the United Arab Emirates from its list of high-risk third countries with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1184, which has applied since 5 August 2025. The Financial Action Task Force had already taken the country off its gray list in February 2024. Banks and payment firms in the EU no longer have to apply the stricter customer checks that EU law prescribes for business with a listed country.

For founders and investors from Dubai, the change removes one reason for long onboarding checks when they open accounts or sign payment contracts in Germany. The supervision of money laundering rules in the EU is moving to the AMLA in Frankfurt, which will supervise selected cross-border financial groups directly from 2028. The rules it applies come from the EU anti-money laundering package adopted in 2024.

Dubai Law No. 4 of 2022 created the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority VARA, which licenses crypto firms across Dubai and its free zones, with the exception of the DIFC. In the DIFC the Dubai Financial Services Authority DFSA licenses financial firms, crypto firms included. Crypto firms in the DMCC free zone apply for their VARA license through the DMCC Crypto Centre.

MiCA recognizes no license from a third country, so a license from VARA or the DFSA gives no access to customers in the EU. A crypto firm from Dubai needs a CASP license under MiCA, which BaFin grants in Germany and which reaches the other member states through EU passporting. Without that license, a firm may serve EU clients only when they approach it on their own initiative, under the narrow rules of reverse solicitation. Banks from the UAE that take deposits, lend or give guarantees to EU clients need an authorized EU branch from 11 January 2027 under Article 21c of Directive (EU) 2024/1619.

Deutsche Bank opened an office in Abu Dhabi in 1999 and a representative office in Dubai in 2001, and its branch in the DIFC followed in 2005. The bank set up its securities unit Deutsche Securities and Services in the UAE in 2008.

Commerzbank runs its hub for the Middle East from a branch in the DIFC, which the DFSA lists in its public register of firms. Clients of both banks in Dubai deal with institutions that have their head offices in Frankfurt and answer to ECB Banking Supervision there.

The EU and the United Arab Emirates agreed on 10 April 2025 to negotiate a free trade agreement, and Maroš Šefčovič and Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi formally opened the talks in Dubai on 28 May 2025. The negotiators discuss trade in goods as well as offers on services and the right of establishment.

Germany and the UAE traded goods worth 13.3 billion euros in 2025, and German exports to the Emirates rose by 66 percent between 2020 and 2025, according to the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry DIHK. Motor vehicles, machinery and electrical equipment made up almost half of those exports.

The DIFC organizes the Dubai FinTech Summit, whose fourth edition takes place on 2 and 3 November 2026 at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. The summit is the main event of Dubai Future Finance Week and lists more than 10,000 business leaders, 1,000 investors and 300 speakers from more than 120 countries.

The program of 2026 covers digital assets and tokenization, payments and cross-border corridors, AI and data, and sustainable finance. Digital assets and tokenization also belong to the Investment & Digital Assets track of Finance Loop in Frankfurt.

A VARA license does not count in the EU, because MiCA recognizes no crypto license from a third country. A firm licensed in Dubai needs its own CASP license from an authority in a member state, and the register of MiCA-licensed firms shows which firms already hold one.

The double taxation agreement between Germany and the United Arab Emirates of 1 July 2010 expired at the end of 2021, and no new agreement is in force. In September 2026 the DIHK called for a new agreement as part of its proposals for the EU free trade agreement with the UAE.

Finance Loop is a professional network for emerging technologies in finance with more than 4,000 members, built in collaboration with Frankfurt Main Finance and TechQuartier. Finance Loop events in Frankfurt bring visitors from Dubai together with banks, asset managers, supervisors and fintechs in Germany.

A team from Dubai can join a Finance Loop delegation to events such as Frankfurt Digital Finance and get personal introductions from the Finance Loop team. Anyone working in finance, IT or AI can sign up for the free Network Membership.