What is ADGM?

Abu Dhabi Global Market is a free zone in Abu Dhabi — a self-contained business district with its own registrar and its own rules — built for finance, fintech and holding structures. Like the DIFC in Dubai, it runs on its own common-law legal system with its own courts and regulator, separate from UAE civil law — a legal environment closer to the UK than to the rest of the UAE.

It has grown quickly: ADGM reported over 13,000 active licences in the first quarter of 2026, and the Al Reem Island integration it completed in February 2025 added over 1,100 entities to the jurisdiction (source: adgm.com).

ADGM's regulator and common-law framework

A financial free zone with its own regulator (the FSRA) and its own English-language common-law courts. A company set up here is an ADGM entity, governed by ADGM rules, not the company law of the UAE mainland — the rest of the country, outside the free zones. That common-law footing is also why it is a common home for holding companies, special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) and family-office structures, not only operating financial firms.

ADGM applies English common law directly, under its own Application of English Law Regulations 2015, and its companies sit under the ADGM Companies Regulations 2020 rather than the federal Commercial Companies Law (source: adgm.com).

What you can set up in ADGM

ADGM permits a private company limited by shares (the ordinary trading or operating entity), a public company, a Restricted Scope Company (one that discloses less on the public register), a limited liability partnership, a limited partnership, or a branch of a company you already own — alongside the two structures ADGM is best known for (source: adgm.com).

An SPV is a company built only to hold things — shares, intellectual property, an asset inside a group — and it does not trade or employ staff. It does not need leased office space of its own: ADGM allows a corporate service provider to supply an SPV's registered office address (source: adgm.com).

A Foundation has no owner at all: it holds assets in its own right for its beneficiaries, or for a stated purpose, which is why it is the succession tool rather than the ownership one. Which one fits is an ownership question — see types of company in the UAE and what a free zone company is.

How ADGM compares

ADGM vs a standard free zone

A standard free zone (IFZA, RAKEZ and the like) is for trading, services and online businesses at a fraction of the cost. ADGM is not competing with those — it is for businesses that need a regulated financial licence, or a recognised common-law base for holding companies and special-purpose structures. If your business doesn't need that, a standard free zone does the job for far less.

Working outside ADGM: the dual licence

A company set up in ADGM is not sealed inside it. Under a standing arrangement between ADGM's Registration Authority and Abu Dhabi's Department of Economic Development, an ADGM entity can hold an Abu Dhabi mainland trade licence — the ordinary licence to trade in the emirate — alongside its ADGM one and serve clients in the capital without taking a separate mainland office — provided it satisfies the licensing requirements of both, and follows both sets of rules (source: adgm.com).

At Start Business Services we raise this early with any owner weighing ADGM against a cheaper free zone, because it changes the answer to the question most of them are actually asking — whether an Abu Dhabi entity can reach customers outside the free zone without paying for a second address.

Why ADGM over the DIFC, or the other way round?

This is the question owners ask most, because the two look so similar. Both are common-law financial free zones, so the deciding factors are practical:

• Activity and regulator — the specific regulated activity, and whether the FSRA (ADGM) or the DFSA (DIFC) is the better fit and more comfortable with it.
• Location — Abu Dhabi (ADGM) versus Dubai (DIFC): where the business, its clients and its people need to be.
• What it actually costs — the office drives the real cost either way, not the licence. ADGM's Al Reem expansion has opened up cheaper space than Al Maryah alone offered, and the DIFC carries a high office floor too, so the two totals can converge once an office is added.
• Holding structures — ADGM's Foundations and SPVs often tip holding and family-office work its way.

ADGM vs DIFC at a glance

Which one wins depends on the activity, the regulator's view and where you need to be — which is the conversation to have before choosing.

For a holding company with no regulated activity, ADGM is usually the simpler of the two: its SPV and Foundation regimes are built for exactly that, and a holding entity does not lease office space of its own. More on the structure itself: holding companies in the UAE.

ADGM, in full

What an ADGM setup involves: regulatory approval for the activity (for regulated firms), or the relevant entity formation for a holding or SPV structure, meeting ADGM's presence requirements — every entity needs a registered address in ADGM, and an operating company needs physical space — and the licensing itself.

On cost, ADGM publishes its licence fees, and the licence is the small part. From January 2025 a non-financial commercial licence costs USD 5,500 to register and USD 5,000 a year to renew; a financial-category licence is USD 16,700 to register and USD 16,200 a year; an SPV is USD 1,600 to register and USD 1,100 to renew — plus a USD 300 data-protection fee across the board (source: adgm.com). In dirhams, counting the USD 300 data-protection fee at both ends, that runs from roughly AED 7,000 for an SPV to about AED 62,000 for a financial-category licence.

Those are the government fees, not the all-in. For most ADGM entities the real driver is the office. ADGM now spans Al Maryah and Al Reem Islands — premium Al Maryah space is expensive, though the newer Al Reem expansion generally offers cheaper options. An SPV is the exception: it leases nothing, so its cost sits at the government fees above plus the professional fees, and little else.

These setups also need professional support to get through, which adds to both the cost and the time. At Start Business Services we do the formation, the banking and the visas ourselves, and bring in specialist partners for FSRA-regulated applications and for drafting a Foundation.

And if you are a regulated firm, the FSRA's funded-capital requirement sits on top and varies widely by activity. In our experience the all-in for a regulated firm runs well into six figures once office, professional fees and capital are added — but ADGM doesn't publish a single "all-in" number, and we won't invent one. We cost it against your actual activity.

ADGM works differently from a standard free zone from day one. It charges a one-off registration fee (standard free zones generally don't), and where a firm is FSRA-regulated it has to hold real money in the company. The FSRA sets that amount by activity — it calls it Capital Resources, not share capital — and for several categories it is whichever is higher: a fixed floor, or a share of the firm's own yearly running costs. That is not the nominal, often-undeposited figure you see at a standard free zone.

On timing, ADGM does not publish a processing time for a company registration, an SPV or an FSRA-regulated firm, and we won't put one up in its place — a regulated application runs on the regulator's timetable, not ours. The 21-day figure quoted around the web is ADGM's own, but it is the eligibility review for the incentivised Hub71 tech start-up licence, not a general application review (source: adgm.com).

Visas and the bank account sit on top of all of it. We confirm a realistic timeline once the activity is clear.

What ADGM means at the bank

Banks recognise ADGM well, and for genuinely regulated activity or a properly structured holding entity it can make opening an account more straightforward, because the bank understands the rules and who regulates it. The same familiarity helps beyond the bank: investors, legal advisers and counterparties recognise an ADGM structure, so the conversations around a regulated firm or a holding company tend to be easier.

At Start Business Services we tell owners the same thing every time: an ADGM structure is well understood, but it does not open the account on its own. The bank still looks at the activity, the owners and the substance behind them — a recognised structure helps the conversation, it doesn't settle it.

Written by Gareth Jones, Founder of Start Business Services — in UAE business setup since 2009, with a background in corporate and contracts law. He advises UK, Irish and Australian owners on UAE company formation, free zones and banking.

Is ADGM right for your business?

ADGM is not cheap, so it is only worth it for a business that genuinely needs what it offers. Typical examples that justify the cost:

• Fund and asset managers
• Fintech and digital-asset firms (digital-asset activity is regulated, and slow to approve)
• Family offices and private-wealth structures
• Holding companies, often set up through ADGM Foundations
• SPVs holding shares, intellectual property or real estate within a group
• Fund structures, and captive insurers — an insurance company a group sets up to carry its own risks

It does not suit general trading, retail or e-commerce, everyday professional services, or a solo professional. For those, the cost buys nothing the business actually needs, and a standard free zone or a mainland company does the same job for less. If your business doesn't genuinely need it, we'll say so.

The compliance is heavy. It often needs legal and chartered-accountant work to get through, and it is slow to open. For a business that genuinely needs the common-law framework or the regulatory standing, that cost is justified. For one that doesn't, a simpler route reaches the same goal with far less friction.