UAE licensed capital market firms jump 43% in nine months

Summary

• Licensed companies rose 43% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2026, the CMA reported.
• ADX and DFM combined market value reached AED3.7 trillion at end-September, with AED408 billion traded.
• Foreign investors drove 49% of traded value, signalling sustained overseas appetite for UAE listings.

The latest

Licensed companies under the UAE Capital Market Authority rose 43% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2026, the regulator said, alongside tighter oversight and continued financing activity. The combined market capitalisation of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Dubai Financial Market stood at AED3.7 trillion at the end of September. Traded value over the period reached AED408 billion.

Details

• Market size: The CMA said the combined market capitalisation of ADX and DFM reached AED3.7 trillion at the end of September 2026. Total traded value across the two exchanges came to AED408 billion over the first nine months of the year, the regulator's headline measure of trading activity.
• Foreign flows: Foreign investors accounted for 49% of traded value during the period, according to the CMA — close to half of all trading on the two exchanges, and the clearest indicator in the regulator's figures of overseas participation in UAE-listed equities.
• Debt issuance: Bond and sukuk issuances reached a combined AED576 billion in the first nine months of 2026, the CMA said. That debt figure is more than four times the period's total equity traded value, underlining how far fixed-income issuance now outpaces secondary equity turnover.
• Equity raising: Companies completed approximately AED3.4 billion in capital increases during the reporting period, according to the regulator. The CMA did not break down which issuers carried out those increases or in which sectors they were concentrated.
• Funds sector: The number of local investment funds nearly doubled, rising 94% year-on-year to 97, the CMA reported. Assets under management grew 30% to AED28.6 billion during the third quarter of 2026, making funds one of the fastest-expanding segments in the regulator's data.
• Enforcement: The number of financial penalties imposed rose 246% year-on-year, while their combined value increased 23% to AED12.9 million. The sharp gap between the two rates points to a far larger number of smaller fines rather than a few heavy ones.
• Client refunds: Approximately AED1.2 billion was refunded to clients during the period, the CMA said, against AED8 million in the corresponding period of 2025 — a jump of roughly 150 times. The regulator did not identify the cases behind the refunds.
• Official framing: Waleed Saeed Al Awadhi, CEO of the Capital Market Authority, said the growth in licensed companies and continued capital-raising activity reflect the strength of the UAE's markets. He did not give a forecast for the remainder of the year.

Background

The Capital Market Authority licenses and supervises firms operating in UAE securities markets. ADX and DFM are the country's two main exchanges, and their combined capitalisation is the standard measure used for the size of the domestic listed market.

Between the lines

Two of the sharpest moves in the CMA's figures are enforcement-related rather than market-related: penalty counts up 246% and client refunds of AED1.2 billion against AED8 million a year earlier. Read alongside the 43% rise in licensed firms, the numbers suggest supervisory capacity scaling with the licensing base. The near-doubling of local funds to 97 points the same way, toward a widening regulated perimeter.

What's next

Full-year 2026 figures from the CMA will show whether the 43% licensing growth and the AED3.7 trillion capitalisation held through the fourth quarter, and whether foreign participation stayed near half of traded value.

Source: WAM