Chinese banks at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) have tripled the size of their assets since 2014 as Dubai continues to establish its position in Beijing’s One Belt One Road initiative.

“If you look at the activity of the Chinese banks since the announcement of our 2014 strategy, we have seen the balance sheets triple in size from $11bn back in 2014 to $33bn in 2017,” says Arif Amri, CEO of DIFC Authority.

More Chinese banks are looking to establish a presence in the Dubai financial district and two banks are in discussions with the DIFC Authority. “They are in the pipeline,” says DIFC Authority governor Essa Kazim.

The growing influence of Chinese financial institutions supports DIFC’s 2024 strategy, which aims to triple the size of the financial free zone. To achieve that target, 20 per cent of the growth is expected to come from building relevance in global sectors, 30 per cent from developing the traditional core businesses, and 50 per cent from the South-South region made up of Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific.

The increase in Chinese interest in the DIFC district helped it achieve a 1 per cent growth in revenues in 2017. In addition, 315 companies entered the financial zone in 2017, a new record, surpassing the 309 total achieved in 2015.

Altogether, there are now 1,853 companies operating in the DIFC. Of those companies, 36 per cent come from the Middle East, 11 per cent from Asia, 33 per cent from Europe, 10 per cent from the US and 10 per cent from other regions.

There was also 384,200 square feet of additional space leased, taking the total leased area within the DIFC district to 3.4 million sq ft.