The New Silk Road is alive. That was the message from Dubai’s largest bank, Emirates NBD, when the lender listed a 2.40 percent bond on Nasdaq Dubai on October 14. The note, maturing in 2028, was issued under the bank’s 20 billion dollars Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) programme and marked Emirates NBD’s return to the Dim Sum market. This segment allows global investors to subscribe to bonds denominated in China’s currency, the renminbi («people’s money»), outside mainland China.

The UAE supports the Silk Road strategy of Chinese President Xi Jinping and has become China’s largest trading partner in the Middle East — with non-oil trade between the two crossing 100 billion dollars for the first time in 2024.

Meanwhile, debt issuance by banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is expected to remain strong through 2026, according to Fitch Ratings, after surpassing the 60 billion  dollars mark already this year.

Bond, Islamic Bond

Hamed Ali, CEO of Nasdaq Dubai, commented on the listing: «Emirates NBD’s Dim Sum bond highlights the growing appeal of our market and the ability of leading institutions to diversify their funding across currencies and geographies.» Earlier in October, Nasdaq Dubai also secured a listing of a 500 million dollars Islamic bond, also known as sukuk, by Emirates Islamic bank. This Sustainability-Linked Financing Sukuk from the Shariah-compliant lender is the world’s first sukuk of its kind, with proceeds allocated to investments in renewable energy.

The sukuk attracted strong international demand, with orders reaching 1.2 billion dollars, representing an oversubscription of 2.4 times. This allowed the bank to set a profit rate of 4.540 percent per annum, with a spread of 95 basis points over five-year US Treasuries. Unlike conventional fixed-income bonds, sukuk do not pay interest; instead, investors receive a share of the profits generated by the underlying project.

The total outstanding value of debt instruments listed on Nasdaq Dubai has now reached 140 billion dollars.

IPOs prefer different markets

Despite rising IPO appetite in the Gulf, Nasdaq Dubai has (so far) failed to benefit from the ongoing listing boom. Companies in the region continue to favour other primary markets.

Alpha Data, specialist for digital transformation, chose to list its shares on ADX in Abu Dhabi, attracting 600 million dollars in capital. Alec Holdings opted for Dubai's local stock exchange DFM for its IPO, while Saudi healthcare provider Almoosa Health Group stayed close to home, listing shares worth 450 million dollars on the Saudi Exchange in Riyadh. The upcoming IPO of online marketplace Dubizzle is also scheduled to take place on DFM on October 23. In 2024, the GCC saw a record number of IPOs: 53 listings across the region. These IPOs raised approximately 13.2 billion dollars, representing a 23–25 percent increase over 2023. In the first half of 2025, 24 new listings were recorded across GCC exchanges.

Unlike the local DFM, which is overseen by the UAE Central Bank, Nasdaq Dubai is governed by the international regulatory framework of the DFSA — the Dubai Financial Services Authority — which supervises the DIFC and follows English common law principles. Another key distinction: while DFM listings are denominated in UAE dirhams, Nasdaq Dubai, located within the DIFC, operates in US dollars. Notably, DFM owns a two-thirds stake in Nasdaq Dubai, and both exchanges share the same CEO: Hamed Ali.