The numberof brokerage firms operating out of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)rose to 72 at the end of March, up from 49 in 2022, while their combined netprofit reached a record $301 million last year, according to the DubaiFinancial Services Authority. The pace ofnew arrivals has been fading, though, and Finance Magnates Intelligence expectsthe count to settle near 76 by the end of 2026.Thefull profit series, the slowing firm growth and the FM Intelligence projectionssit in the newest analysis you can find here.Dubai haskept pulling in brokers, a trend FinanceMagnates.com tracked when the DIFC's OTC derivatives marketdoubled to $13 trillion on the back of FX and rates activity.Growth Cools as ProfitPeaksTheregulator counted nine new firms in 2023, six in 2024 and four in 2025, withanother four in the first quarter of 2026. The arrivals kept coming as the DFSA moved to cut licensing times byroughly a third,yet the annual pace has clearly cooled.Profitfollowed a bumpier line. Net income was $160 million in 2022, dropped to $80million in 2023, then recovered to $218 million in 2024 and $301 million in2025, according to the DFSA, with $132 million booked in the first quarterof this year.One figureis worth a second look. The DFSA describes the firm count as rising 68% since2022, but the numbers it discloses, 49 firms growing to 72, work out to a 47%increase, and FM Intelligence uses the calculated figure. Individualauthorizations, meanwhile, still take time, as Pepperstone found before securingits DFSA licensefollowing a multi-year application.Where FM Intelligence Seesthe Count LandingApplyingthe 2022-to-2025 compound annual growth rate of 11.6% to the 2025 total of 68firms, Finance Magnates Intelligence puts the base case at about 76 firms byyear-end, with a bear case near 73 to 74 and a bull case of 78 to 80. Itassigns the highest probability to the base case and says the estimate will berevised as more 2026 data lands.The sameDFSA review also flagged control gaps, with 18% of surveyed firms holding nodocumented staff-dealing policy and 32% keeping no register, ground FinanceMagnates covered when it reported that Dubai brokers grew faster than theirstaff-trading rules.Thebase, bull and bear scenarios, the full headcount and profit series and themethodology behind the projections are laid out in the FM Intelligence analysis.This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.