Symmetry Investments granted DFSA licence in Dubai

The Dubai Financial Services Authority has granted Symmetry Investments a licence to operate from the Dubai International Financial Centre. The firm has appointed Faisal Butt as its Senior Executive Officer in Dubai; Butt joins from Brevan Howard and will lead Symmetry’s activities in the emirate.

Symmetry was founded in 2014 by Feng Guo after his departure from Millennium Management. The firm maintains offices in London and Hong Kong.

The licence follows a pattern of hedge fund managers establishing regional bases in Dubai. Firms have cited the emirate’s regulatory framework, favourable tax regime and access to institutional and sovereign wealth capital across the Gulf as reasons for setting up local operations. Large global managers, including Citadel, have obtained DFSA approval in recent months.

Regulators in the DIFC reported 258 companies established a presence there in March, a 59% increase from the same month a year earlier. A total of 775 new firms launched operations in the DIFC during the first quarter. Authorities have offered operational flexibility intended to help firms manage potential disruptions to business activity.

Geopolitical tensions in the wider region, including renewed exchanges between the United States and Iran and concerns about shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, have been cited as risk factors. Despite those tensions, DFSA licence approvals for international managers have continued.

Symmetry’s licence gives the firm a regulated base from which to market strategies and service regional clients. The firm named a senior executive with prior hedge fund experience to lead local operations in the DIFC.