Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi is expected to become a regional hub for financial technology (FinTech), with authorities in the emirate planning to work on a framework to govern the sector, according to Ahmad Al Sayegh, chairman of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).
The chairman said that global investments in the sector quadrupled to $12 billion (Dh44 billion) in 2014, with the figure likely to multiply in the years to come. However, GCC countries were still lagging behind in terms of their investments in the sector.
“This particular area [involves] such a complex set of innovations and investments that we think working on a framework with global and local partners will help define a road map towards making us a hub for [FinTech],” Al Sayegh said.
He added that ADGM was committed to boosting investments in the sector in order to help raise the efficiency of markets and help banks minimise risks. It is also committed to working with key stakeholders to build a conductive FinTech environment.
With ADGM being Abu Dhabi’s financial free-zone, its jurisdictions and regulations can act as a catalyst to bring in more companies in the field of financial technology.
Al Sayegh was speaking on Wednesday at the Global Financial Markets Forum, which kicked off in Abu Dhabi, shedding light on challenges in the region’s and the world’s economy, specifically in the banking and capital markets sectors.
Investments
“Looking at 2016, it will likely be another year of global uncertainty and market volatility, continuing the challenges from 2015. We have witnessed heightened risk aversion among investors that triggered global equity market declines since the beginning of the year,” he said in his opening speech.
Al Sayegh said that it was exactly such uncertainty that was highlighting the need for investments in fields of innovation such as FinTech.
“According to the World Bank, though global economic growth is pegged at 2.9 per cent in 2016, representing a slight improvement from 2015, weak growth among emerging markets will weigh on global expansion.
Activity softened towards the end of 2015, and the valuation of risky assets has dropped sharply, especially in advanced economies, increasing further weakening of the outlook,” he said.
Concerns regarding China’s economic slowdown, along with “signs of distress” in other emerging markets and the likelihood of higher interest rates from the US Federal Reserve are adding to investors’ woes, Al Sayegh said.
The Global Financial Markets Forum was opened by Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development.
Speakers
Other key speakers during the two-day event include Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Reem Al Hashemi, UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation and managing director of the Dubai Expo 2020 higher committee.
Greece’s former Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, will also be speaking at the forum in a session on Greece, austerity, the “Brexit”, and other challenges in Europe.
The Forum will cover topics on energy, renewables, sovereign wealth funds, China’s economic outlook, and the impact of the European debt crisis, among others.
