With more than 5,000 financial companies from 100 countries and tens of thousands of industry figures having gathered in the UAE for Abu Dhabi Finance Week, a closer look at the four-day event that ended on Thursday reveals a lot more than the pursuit of profit.
The breadth of topics and announcements – as well as the calibre of participants – is an indicator of what the global 21st century economy will look like and what it could do in the years ahead. Although not every country will embrace all aspects of the future economy as comprehensively as the UAE has, most nations will have to explore some combination of the elements seen in Abu Dhabi this week such as AI, data centres or next-generation finance.
From the news that the UAE’s Digital Dirham stablecoin will soon be introduced in phases to Abu Dhabi’s launch of a financial cluster to focus on FinTech, insurance as well as digital and alternative investment assets, it was clear that ADFW, and the Emirates more broadly, are ones to watch when it comes to future financial trends.
But these developments come with a 21st-century context. ADFW also hosted numerous discussions about how to build climate-resilient infrastructure, fund the green transition and make environmental, social and governance (ESG)-aligned investments profitable. Similarly, the inclusion of major philanthropic policy announcements this week – such as the global pledge to direct $1.9 billion in new funding towards eradicating polio and other preventable diseases – underlines how the kind of ideas discussed at ADFW are about global policy impact, not just the bottom line.
No doubt ADFW is cementing Abu Dhabi’s place as a global finance hub. Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), which hosts the investment summit, has seen demand surge. The free zone now has more than 11,000 active licences registered and nearly 40,000 people working in the financial centre. That demand looks set to increase, with an announcement this week that Mubadala Investment Company and Aldar Properties have plans to spend Dh60 billion ($16.3 billion) on expanding the UAE capital’s financial district on Al Maryah Island.
Abu Dhabi continues to diversify its economy, increasing its focus on sectors such as financial services, manufacturing and tourism. The government has also introduced more measures to attract international investors, boost competitiveness and improve the ease of doing business. The results of such long-term strategising are evident; Abu Dhabi’s economy is projected to grow by about 6 per cent this year, the International Monetary Fund said in October. In the same month UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, opened an advisory office in ADGM. Meanwhile, JP Morgan Chase, the biggest US bank, is building its team of private bankers in the capital.
More broadly, however, the ideas and investments scrutinised in Abu Dhabi this week point to a convergence of capital, technology, diversified investment and social impact. Modern financial markets are evolving from vehicles intended to deliver profits into more nuanced instruments that can deliver infrastructural development as well as societal and environmental transformation. To see how this evolution will play out, ADFW will remain a key global event to watch in future.
