Asia’s wealthy seek to move Dubai assets to other countries amid Middle East conflict

Soon after ​the first Iranian missile and drone attacks on Dubai last week, two Indian entrepreneurs based there tried to move more than $100,000 each from their local bank ‌accounts to Singapore to hedge risk, Reuters writes.

Technological glitches in the aftermath of the Iranian attacks initially scuppered those plans, the entrepreneurs noted. One of them said he managed to subsequently transfer the sum to his Singapore bank account via another Emirates-based bank.

Scores of other wealthy Asians are making enquiries or taking similar steps to move their Dubai-parked assets to the regional financial hubs ​of Singapore and Hong Kong.

Thanks to favorable business and investment policies, Dubai has ⁠emerged in recent years as a preferred wealth hub for entrepreneurs and rich families in Asia, mainly from China. The situation, however, seems to have changed in this regard, amid the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East.