The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) provides a powerful, yet often underutilized, privacy feature: the Private Register. This allows entities to keep the names of shareholders, directors, and other role-holders out of the public domain. Although commonly associated with “single family office” licenses, this opportunity is much broader. If you use DIFC vehicles to individually own shares in a DIFC entity, particularly in the context of family wealth, investment, or succession planning, you may be eligible to move sensitive role-holder information off the public register and onto a private record visible solely to the DIFC Registrar of Companies.
Who can benefit from the Private Register
- Option 1: A Family Office.
- Option 2: A Family Entity.
- This means the entity must be owned or controlled by one family (or any of its members).
- The legal form is irrelevant (e.g., company limited by shares, partnership).
- The number of family stakeholders is irrelevant.
- Its sole purpose is to hold, invest, operate, utilize family assets, or conduct succession/legacy planning for those assets.
- The entity must be controlled by the family.
Crucially, the entity does not need to have “single family office” as an activity listed on its license to qualify.
How to apply for the Private Register
Pays the prescribed fee of USD 1,000.
Once approved, the DIFC Public Register will not display the roles selected for the Private Register.
An extract of the Private Register can be issued by the Registrar upon request.
The process is available at incorporation or post incorporation via the DIFC portal.
What you should do now
If you or your organization are a stakeholder in a DIFC entity, or intend to form a DIFC entity, and if privacy is a priority, we suggest that you:
- Evaluate whether your DIFC entities meet the Family Entity or Family Office criteria; and
- If so, you must apply to the DIFC Registrar of Companies via the DIFC entity’s DIFC portal to request the use of the Private Register instead of the public DIFC register available on their website for the entity in question
How Al Tamimi can help?
For more information or should you wish to access this benefit please get in touch with Izabella Szadkowska, Partner, i.szadkowska@tamimi.com and Noff Al Khafaji, Senior Counsel, n.alkhafaji@tamimi.com