Just as the other Gulf states, the United Arab Emirates has done a good job attracting financial services companies to set up offices within its borders. This has also been true for CFD & forex brokers for quite some time, and many brokers are currently using the country as a base for their regional brokerage business.
The regulatory situation in the UAE is a bit more fragmented than in some other countries, with some CFD brokers operating with a license directly from the Central Bank of the UAE, and others being regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. Some of the CFD & forex brokers in the UAE are also registered in one of the many financial free zones in the country, with its own set of rules.