Dubai – 18 August 2026
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has signed a strategic partnership with the UAE Ministry of Finance (MoF) to deliver two specialised leadership programmes through the DIFC Academy, reinforcing the Centre’s role as the region’s hub for financial talent development.
The agreement, signed at Dubai City Hall by H.E. Younis Haji AlKhoori, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, and H.E. Arif Amiri, Chief Executive Officer of DIFC Authority, will see the Academy roll out the Certified Chief Finance Director Programme and the Certified Financial Consultant Programme to professionals across federal entities.
For DIFC’s own community of financial institutions and practitioners, the partnership underlines the Academy’s growing footprint as a talent pipeline extending well beyond the Centre’s registered firms. Built around four pillars leadership development, artificial intelligence, financial analysis and strategic planning, and financial advisory the curriculum will be offered through in-person, online and hybrid formats.
A widening remit for the DIFC Academy
Amiri said the collaboration reflected DIFC’s long-standing focus on attracting, developing and retaining world-class talent as a cornerstone of the emirate’s financial services ambitions. He noted the Academy has spent more than two decades developing finance professionals through globally benchmarked education, and is on track to teach over 50,000 learners annually by 2030; a trajectory that further cements DIFC’s position as a global centre for financial expertise.
For firms based in DIFC, that expansion signals a deepening bench of AI-literate, advisory-trained talent entering the wider UAE financial sector professionals the Centre’s banks, asset managers and advisory firms may increasingly draw on or collaborate with.
AI at the centre of the curriculum
In a nod to the UAE’s broader push to embed artificial intelligence across government and industry, both programmes include dedicated modules on AI tools and their financial applications spanning data analysis, automated reporting, process automation and predictive forecasting, alongside training in responsible data governance.
AlKhoori described the partnership as designed to help build a more efficient, sustainable and innovation-driven public financial ecosystem, with the AI-focused modules intended to prepare participants to lead digital transformation within government finance functions.
