Robinhood targets 2027 Middle East launch from Dubai

Robinhood, the US app that made stock trading easier for individual investors, is aiming to bring its investment platform to the Middle East in 2027. It has received authorization from Dubai’s financial-services regulator and will run its regional operation from the Dubai International Financial Centre, a financial free zone. The authorization covers arranging trades and custody—the safeguarding of clients’ assets—across 10 types of investments, including shares, exchange-traded funds, crypto and investment tokens; what customers will get first, and in which markets, has not been announced. The move would give regional investors another large, app-first competitor while testing whether Robinhood’s simple US model travels well in a market with different rules and established local and global platforms.