DIWAN · REGISTER
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Studies & Intelligence
Intelligence with context. Foresight that shapes decisions. The DIWAN register publishes commissioned studies, briefings, and market intelligence across sectors and jurisdictions.
AllTrade & Capital 79Law & Regulation 46Country Files 196Demand & Buyers 45Platforms & Growth 180Brand & Positioning 4Commodities 23Business 69Technology 188Cyber Security 4
All
United Arab Emirates 49
Saudi Arabia 39
Qatar 14
Singapore 10
Oman 6
Bahrain 4
China 4
Guinea 3
Egypt 2
Kuwait 2
Samoa 2
Sudan 2
Albania 1
Algeria 1
American Samoa 1
Andorra 1
Angola 1
Antigua and Barbuda 1
Argentina 1
Aruba 1
Australia 1
Austria 1
Azerbaijan 1
Bangladesh 1
Barbados 1
Belarus 1
Belize 1
Bermuda 1
Bolivia 1
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1
Brazil 1
British Virgin Islands 1
Brunei Darussalam 1
Bulgaria 1
Cabo Verde 1
Cambodia 1
Canada 1
Cayman Islands 1
Central African Republic 1
Chad 1
Channel Islands 1
Chile 1
Costa Rica 1
Croatia 1
Cuba 1
Cyprus 1
Czechia 1
Denmark 1
Dominica 1
Dominican Republic 1
Ecuador 1
Equatorial Guinea 1
Eritrea 1
Estonia 1
Eswatini 1
Finland 1
France 1
French Polynesia 1
Gabon 1
Georgia 1
Germany 1
Gibraltar 1
Greece 1
Greenland 1
Grenada 1
Guam 1
Guatemala 1
Guyana 1
Haiti 1
Hungary 1
India 1
Indonesia 1
Isle of Man 1
Israel 1
Italy 1
Jamaica 1
Jordan 1
Kazakhstan 1
Kiribati 1
Kosovo 1
Latvia 1
Lesotho 1
Liberia 1
Libya 1
Lithuania 1
Luxembourg 1
Malawi 1
Malaysia 1
Malta 1
Mauritania 1
Mauritius 1
Mexico 1
Monaco 1
Mongolia 1
Montenegro 1
Morocco 1
Mozambique 1
Myanmar 1
Nepal 1
Netherlands 1
New Caledonia 1
Niger 1
Nigeria 1
North Macedonia 1
Northern Mariana Islands 1
Pakistan 1
Palau 1
Panama 1
Papua New Guinea 1
Paraguay 1
Peru 1
Philippines 1
Poland 1
Romania 1
Rwanda 1
San Marino 1
Senegal 1
Sierra Leone 1
Slovenia 1
Solomon Islands 1
South Africa 1
South Sudan 1
Spain 1
Sri Lanka 1
Suriname 1
Sweden 1
Switzerland 1
Syrian Arab Republic 1
Tajikistan 1
Tanzania 1
Timor-Leste 1
Togo 1
Trinidad and Tobago 1
Tunisia 1
Turkey 1
Turkmenistan 1
Turks and Caicos Islands 1
Tuvalu 1
Ukraine 1
United Kingdom 1
Uruguay 1
Vanuatu 1
Vietnam 1
West Bank and Gaza 1
Zimbabwe 1
United Arab Emirates 49Saudi Arabia 39Qatar 14Singapore 10Oman 6Bahrain 4China 4Guinea 3Egypt 2Kuwait 2Samoa 2Sudan 2Albania 1Algeria 1American Samoa 1Andorra 1Angola 1Antigua and Barbuda 1Argentina 1Aruba 1Australia 1Austria 1Azerbaijan 1Bangladesh 1Barbados 1Belarus 1Belize 1Bermuda 1Bolivia 1Bosnia and Herzegovina 1Brazil 1British Virgin Islands 1Brunei Darussalam 1Bulgaria 1Cabo Verde 1Cambodia 1Canada 1Cayman Islands 1Central African Republic 1Chad 1Channel Islands 1Chile 1Costa Rica 1Croatia 1Cuba 1Cyprus 1Czechia 1Denmark 1Dominica 1Dominican Republic 1Ecuador 1Equatorial Guinea 1Eritrea 1Estonia 1Eswatini 1Finland 1France 1French Polynesia 1Gabon 1Georgia 1Germany 1Gibraltar 1Greece 1Greenland 1Grenada 1Guam 1Guatemala 1Guyana 1Haiti 1Hungary 1India 1Indonesia 1Isle of Man 1Israel 1Italy 1Jamaica 1Jordan 1Kazakhstan 1Kiribati 1Kosovo 1Latvia 1Lesotho 1Liberia 1Libya 1Lithuania 1Luxembourg 1Malawi 1Malaysia 1Malta 1Mauritania 1Mauritius 1Mexico 1Monaco 1Mongolia 1Montenegro 1Morocco 1Mozambique 1Myanmar 1Nepal 1Netherlands 1New Caledonia 1Niger 1Nigeria 1North Macedonia 1Northern Mariana Islands 1Pakistan 1Palau 1Panama 1Papua New Guinea 1Paraguay 1Peru 1Philippines 1Poland 1Romania 1Rwanda 1San Marino 1Senegal 1Sierra Leone 1Slovenia 1Solomon Islands 1South Africa 1South Sudan 1Spain 1Sri Lanka 1Suriname 1Sweden 1Switzerland 1Syrian Arab Republic 1Tajikistan 1Tanzania 1Timor-Leste 1Togo 1Trinidad and Tobago 1Tunisia 1Turkey 1Turkmenistan 1Turks and Caicos Islands 1Tuvalu 1Ukraine 1United Kingdom 1Uruguay 1Vanuatu 1Vietnam 1West Bank and Gaza 1Zimbabwe 1Demand & Buyers
Photo · janith devinda / Unsplash
Legal review
What the Gulf Actually Asks: Incorporation, Directors' Duties and Exit Costs in the GCC
A demand-driven legal review answering the questions readers put to the platform most — mainland vs ADGM vs DIFC, what boards owe, and what employment exits cost
Reader demand on the platform clusters on three questions: where to incorporate in the GCC, what directors owe once incorporated, and what employment exits cost. This study answers all three — a six-door comparison of UAE mainland, ADGM, DIFC, Saudi Arabia, QFC and Bahrain/Oman; the ADGM directors'-duties framework in plain language; and the notice and end-of-service formulas for DIFC, ADGM and the UAE mainland — with indicative costs and a decision playbook by profile.
≈46%SHARE OF READER QUESTIONS ABOUT FORMATION & JURISDICTION CHOICE
≈ USD 1,000ADGM TECH START-UP LICENCE, PER YEAR
14 daysDIFC NOTICE FOR MOST TENURES (3 MONTHS–5 YEARS)
Photo · Ondrej Bocek / Unsplash
Feasibility
GCC Platform Signals: The Delivery War Goes to Margin
Two market signals to 24 September 2026 — the incumbent raises guidance while profit falls, and the challenger's China playbook turns profitable in Saudi Arabia. What is moving, and who should act.
In the weeks to 24 September 2026, the GCC platform economy produced two signals that read as one story. On 13 August, talabat — the region's largest consumer internet company — raised its full-year 2026 guidance across every key metric after Q2 revenue climbed 16% to US$1.1 billion, yet the same release showed adjusted EBITDA down 13% and net income down 18%. Growth is being bought with margin. Then, on 9 September, Caixin reported that Keeta, Meituan's international delivery brand, had turned profitable in Saudi Arabia in July 2026 — barely two years after entering with US$266 million of committed spend and sign-up vouchers worth 100 riyals. A subsidy blitz that incumbents hoped was temporary has instead converted into sustainable economics, with roughly a third of the Saudi market and around 700,000 daily orders across the region. The Gulf's platform contest has moved from customer acquisition to a war of operating margin, rider fleets, and supply infrastructure. This study sets out both signals, the numbers beneath them, and the concrete moves open to merchants, platforms, investors, and service providers in the window before Keeta closes the map at Bahrain and Oman.
US$1.1bnTALABAT Q2 2026 REVENUE (UP 16% Y/Y)
US$100mTALABAT Q2 2026 NET INCOME (DOWN 18% Y/Y)
~33%KEETA SHARE OF SAUDI FOOD DELIVERY, LATE 2025
Photo · Riyas Mohammed / Unsplash
Legal review
How the Gulf Hires and Lets Go — The Employment Edition
Third reading of the Ask-desk demand signal: gratuity, notice, savings schemes and nationalisation quotas — the employment rulebook actually in force across the GCC in 2026, and what it costs to get it wrong
Readers of the legal platform keep asking a third family of questions after formation and directors' duties: how to hire, pay out and let go. This edition answers the recurring asks — end-of-service gratuity, notice periods, the quiet shift from accrued gratuity to funded savings (DEWS and the UAE federal scheme), the 2025 Saudi labour-law amendments, ADGM's 2024 Employment Regulations, and the Emiratisation penalty escalator — with worked numbers and a 90-day employer playbook.
~1 in 5ASK-DESK QUERIES CONCERNING EMPLOYMENT, TERMINATION OR NOTICE
5.83% → 8.33%DEWS / UAE SAVINGS-SCHEME CONTRIBUTION (FIRST 5 YEARS → AFTER)
7–90 daysDIFC STATUTORY NOTICE SPAN BY TENURE
Photo · Kenny / Unsplash
Feasibility
GCC Platform Watch: Down the Stack
Two signals from the last 30 days — Saudi and Qatari national payment cards go cross-border, and Saudi banks put $50 million behind the region's open-banking plumbing — mark the Gulf platform contest moving from apps to infrastructure, and the playbook for who should act
In the 30 days to 22 September 2026, the GCC platform economy moved down the stack. The land wars of the app layer — delivery, BNPL, marketplaces — gave way to a contest over the plumbing beneath them. Two signals carry the shift. On 15 September, the Saudi Central Bank and Qatar Central Bank announced that the Kingdom's mada and Qatar's HIMYAN national payment cards will be accepted across both countries, a gradual ATM-and-POS rollout riding the Gulf Payment Network. A week earlier, open-banking platform Tarabut closed US$50 million in strategic financing led not by venture funds but by the Saudi banks that run on its rails — Riyad Bank, SAB's X-Tech Fund, GIB, with Zamil Group and Kanoo Ventures alongside. Read together against SAMA's disclosure that Saudi fintech investment has passed SAR 30 billion and that electronic payments now exceed 85% of retail transactions, the message is that the next platform fortunes in the Gulf will be made in infrastructure ownership, not customer acquisition. This edition sets out both signals, the numbers beneath them, and who should act in the window before the rollout reaches e-commerce.
SAR 30bn+SAUDI FINTECH INVESTMENT BY END-H1 2026
$50mTARABUT STRATEGIC FINANCING, SAUDI-BANK-LED
$1.85bnBARQ SERIES A VALUATION AT MONEY20/20
Photo · Shibin Joseph / Unsplash
Feasibility
GCC Platform Watch: The Profit Turn
Two signals from the last 30 days — Keeta's Gulf operation turns profitable and Tabby prices at $6.5 billion — mark the end of growth-at-any-cost in the Gulf platform economy, and the playbook for who should act
In the 30 days to 21 September 2026, the GCC platform economy crossed a line it has been approaching for two years: platforms stopped being priced and judged on growth alone, and started being priced and judged on profit. Two signals carry the shift. First, reporting on 9 September confirmed that Keeta — Meituan's international arm — reached profitability in Saudi Arabia in July 2026, roughly 22 months after entering, while building the UAE into its second-largest market across all seven emirates. The subsidy-led Chinese entry playbook is now a self-funding beachhead, and the cost is visible in incumbent accounts: Talabat grew Q2 GMV 11% yet surrendered 18% of net income defending wallet share. Second, on 14 September Tabby closed a $233 million round at a $6.5 billion valuation led by Blue Pool Capital — pricing a Riyadh-headquartered platform above Klarna, its global archetype, on the strength of licences, profitability since 2023 and $18 billion in annualized volume. This study reads the two signals together, quantifies what is moving, and sets out who should act: merchants with a rare negotiating window, incumbents forced into subscription and multi-vertical defence, investors ahead of a Tadawul pipeline, and founders for whom profitability is now the ticket to capital.
$6.5bnTABBY POST-MONEY VALUATION ON 14 SEP 2026 — ABOVE KLARNA'S ~$5.2BN MARKET CAPITALISATION
−18%TALABAT Q2 2026 NET INCOME CHANGE WHILE GMV GREW 11% — THE PRICE OF DEFENDING WALLET SHARE
~22 monthsTIME FROM KEETA'S RIYADH ENTRY (SEP 2024) TO A PROFITABLE SAUDI OPERATION (JUL 2026)
Photo · Unsplash
Legal review
GCC Directors' Duties: The Governance Edition
One board seat, three legal families — what Gulf directors personally owe in 2026, and what breach now actually costs
The fourth edition in the demand series answers the second-largest question cluster on the legal platform (≈20% of reader queries): what do directors and managers personally owe, and when does the company's problem become theirs? The answer has changed. Between the Dubai Court of Cassation's AED 152m personal award against a vice-chairman and CEO, the UAE bankruptcy law's shadow-director reach, KSA's 2022 law with the region's first express business-judgment defence, and the NMC proceedings in ADGM — where judgment on civil fraud claims against the founder and former CEO was reserved on 3 July 2026 after a 15-week trial and a US$600m mid-closing settlement by Bank of Baroda — personal liability in the Gulf has moved from paper risk to enforced norm. This study maps the duties across mainland UAE, ADGM, DIFC and Saudi Arabia, prices the breach, and gives five board seats a 90-day protection playbook.
US$600mSETTLED BY BANK OF BARODA DURING CLOSING ARGUMENTS OF THE NMC TRIAL IN ADGM, JULY 2026 — WITHOUT ADMISSION OF LIABILITY
AED 152mAWARDED PERSONALLY AND JOINTLY AGAINST A FORMER VICE-CHAIRMAN/CEO AND SUBSIDIARY MANAGER — DUBAI COURT OF CASSATION, APPEAL 866 OF 2024
≈20%SHARE OF READER QUERIES ON THE LEGAL PLATFORM THAT CONCERN DIRECTORS' DUTIES AND GOVERNANCE — THE SECOND-LARGEST DEMAND CLUSTER
Photo · Unsplash
Feasibility
The GCC Platform Signal — The Payment Rails Edition
The Gulf is rebuilding the money rail itself: instant payments at 12.5 million users, a national card scheme live, a central-bank digital dirham settling government money, and a regulated dirham-stablecoin field. What moves, and who should act.
Fifth reading of the GCC platform signal, and the first to look below the apps: at the settlement layer. Between August 2024 and July 2026 the UAE switched on four new domestic money rails — Aani instant payments (12.5m users, 3-second transfers), the Jaywan national card scheme (issuing since 21 July 2026, zero merchant fees on domestic routing), the Digital Dirham (first government transaction settled over mBridge in under two minutes, November 2025), and a regulated dirham-stablecoin regime with live government and fuel-retail acceptance. Saudi Arabia moved open banking from sandbox to licence in March 2026. For platform operators this is a structural repricing: the 2–3% card toll that quietly taxes every GCC platform business is now optional infrastructure. This study maps the new rail stack, prices the switch, reads the legal regimes, and sets 90-day moves for five seats.
12.5mAANI INSTANT-PAYMENTS USERS, WITH TRANSFERS COMPLETING IN 3 SECONDS (CBUAE, APRIL 2026)
AED 15mMINIMUM PAID-UP CAPITAL THE UAE PAYMENT TOKEN SERVICES REGULATION REQUIRES OF A DIRHAM-STABLECOIN ISSUER, WITH MONTHLY EXTERNAL AUDITS
$18bnTABBY ANNUALISED SALES VOLUME AT THE JULY 2026 LAUNCH OF TABBY CASH — THE REGION'S LARGEST FINTECH CONVERTING ONTO THE NEW RAILS
Photo · Thomas Haas / Unsplash
Legal review
What the Gulf Actually Asks a Legal Platform
An eight-week read of real reader demand on a GCC legal Ask desk — and the cited answers to the four questions that dominate it
Aggregate, anonymised demand on the Ask desk of LEX — a Forfait platform and technology intermediary, not a law firm — shows GCC readers overwhelmingly ask navigational questions, not doctrinal ones: which jurisdiction to enter (UAE mainland vs ADGM vs DIFC), what directors owe under ADGM's English-law regime, how exits are priced in employment (notice bands and gratuity), and whether a contract can be ended for convenience across UAE, KSA and the financial free zones. This study reads the demand signal, then answers each cluster with primary-source citations.
≈45%SHARE OF SUBSTANTIVE READER DEMAND ABOUT ENTITY FORMATION AND JURISDICTION CHOICE
USD 1.2bnGCC AI-POWERED LEGAL-RESEARCH MARKET, 2024 (KEN RESEARCH)
7 / 30 / 90 daysDIFC MINIMUM TERMINATION NOTICE BANDS (EMPLOYMENT LAW NO. 2 OF 2019)
Photo · Hush Naidoo Jade Photography / Unsplash
Feasibility
The GCC Healthcare Gold Rush: Private Capital, Mandatory Insurance and the Provider Gap
Six-system benchmark, four mandate engines, a 2030 bed-gap model and a capital playbook for the most oversubscribed sector in the Gulf
Every GCC state has now switched on, or is arming, a mandatory health-insurance engine — Abu Dhabi (2006), Dubai (2014), the Northern Emirates (2025), Kuwait (2025), Oman (phasing), Saudi Arabia (13.2m private lives and doubling premiums to 2030) — while the region operates 1.3–2.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people against Germany's 7.8 and the OECD's 4.3. This study benchmarks the four buyer markets against Germany and Singapore, sizes the provider gap to 2030 (Saudi estimates alone range 8,500–27,000 beds), maps the private-capital wave (PureHealth's $3.5bn of European acquisitions, the $1bn Aster GCC buyout, three Saudi IPOs 64–119× oversubscribed), prices greenfield-versus-acquisition entry, and stress-tests the one risk the gold-rush narrative underweights: reimbursement.
US$159bnGCC HEALTH SPEND BY 2029 (ALPEN CAPITAL, 7.8% CAGR)
8,500–27,000RANGE OF ESTIMATES FOR EXTRA SAUDI BEDS NEEDED BY ~2030
119×INSTITUTIONAL OVERSUBSCRIPTION, FAKEEH CARE IPO (2024)
Photo · Jeffrey Eisen / Unsplash
Masterplan
Feeding the Gulf: The Food-Security Investment Map 2026–2030
Where sovereign capital is pulling private money — UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar benchmarked against the Netherlands and Israel, and the four-segment stack priced
Gulf food-security capital has moved upstream: over US$7 billion of verified sovereign and state-linked deals since 2020 now target the grain trade itself, while domestic production consolidates around what survives the desert P&L. This study benchmarks the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar against their two explicit reference systems — the Netherlands and Israel — then prices the four-segment investable stack: greenhouse-first controlled-environment agriculture, sovereign-anchored aquaculture, cash-yielding cold chain, and alternative proteins as a regulatory call option under Abu Dhabi's 2025 halal-integrated novel-food framework. It closes with the four co-investment structures that repeat across every disclosed transaction, and a candid risk register.
US$7bn+VERIFIED SOVEREIGN & STATE-LINKED AGRI-FOOD COMMITMENTS SINCE 2020
>90%SHARE OF UAE FOOD SUPPLY THAT IS IMPORTED
US$23.7BMEA COLD-CHAIN MARKET BY 2034 (FROM US$13.1B IN 2025)
Photo · Dayne Topkin / Unsplash
Customer research
Easy to Start, Hard to Keep Clean: The UAE SME Formation and Compliance Market
Formation venues compete on price and speed; the durable cost of owning a UAE company now sits in the tax-and-filing stack that follows
The UAE remains one of the cheapest and fastest places in the Gulf to incorporate, with entry licenses from roughly AED 6,000 and approval in days. Since corporate tax took effect in June 2023, however, the recurring compliance line — registration, bookkeeping, VAT and corporate tax filings — has become broadly venue-independent and often exceeds the annual license renewal itself. This study benchmarks five formation venues against Saudi and Bahraini references and sizes the services market that keeps the country's ~557,000 SMEs clean.
~557,000SMES OPERATING IN THE UAE AT END-2022 — THE INSTALLED BASE THE COMPLIANCE-SERVICES MARKET SERVES (SOURCE: UAE MINISTRY OF ECONOMY, VIA WAM)
AED 375,000THE DOUBLE THRESHOLD: TAXABLE INCOME ABOVE IT ATTRACTS 9% CORPORATE TAX, AND TAXABLE SUPPLIES ABOVE IT FORCE VAT REGISTRATION (SOURCE: FEDERAL DECREE-LAW 47 OF 2022; FEDERAL DECREE-LAW 8 OF 2017)
AED 10,000ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY FOR LATE CORPORATE TAX REGISTRATION, WAIVABLE UNDER THE FTA'S 2025 INITIATIVE FOR ENTITIES FILING WITHIN SEVEN MONTHS OF THEIR FIRST PERIOD END (SOURCE: CABINET DECISION 75 OF 2023 AS AMENDED; FEDERAL TAX AUTHORITY)
Photo · Bernd 📷 Dittrich / Unsplash
Masterplan
The Journey Economy: Mapping MENA's Travel and Experiences Market
Beyond hotel counts: pilgrimage volumes, giga-project supply and the young intra-regional traveller reshaping the region's visitor economy
MENA's five headline travel markets each closed 2025 with record arrivals, a synchronised peak the region has not produced before. This study maps the market beyond hotel counts: tourism's GDP contribution, religious travel volumes, the under-digitised experiences layer, Saudi giga-project supply, and the young domestic and intra-regional demand that actually fills the rooms.
122mTOURIST VISITS TO SAUDI ARABIA IN 2025, DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL COMBINED (SOURCE: SAUDI MINISTRY OF TOURISM, VIA ARAB NEWS)
$178bnTRAVEL AND TOURISM CONTRIBUTION TO SAUDI GDP IN 2025, UP 7.4 PER CENT YEAR ON YEAR (SOURCE: WTTC, VIA ARAB NEWS)
19.59mINTERNATIONAL OVERNIGHT VISITORS TO DUBAI IN 2025, A THIRD CONSECUTIVE RECORD YEAR (SOURCE: DUBAI DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMY AND TOURISM)
