Abu Dhabi to become regional FinTech hub

Abu Dhabi - Financial institutions Macquarie, Aberdeen to set up base in free zone

Abu Dhabi is aspiring to become a regional hub for fast growing FinTech business, said Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, chairman of Abu Dhabi Global Market.
In his key note speech, chairman of Abu Dhabi Global Market said in the US, Europe and China, FinTech ecosystems have stimulated technological innovation, improved efficiency of financial markets and systems, and more importantly raised the standard of overall customer experience.
Abu Dhabi desires to become a significant player in the financial services space and the advent of technological upstarts seeking to transform different components of the financial services value chain.
On a broader economic level, these ecosystems have also demonstrated an energising effect by attracting a consolidated pool of entrepreneurial talent and deepening economic vibrancy, the chairman said. During the six years between 2008-2014, the FinTech sector saw a three-fold jump in the investments to $3 billion, which will at least double again by 2018 to $8 billion, he said.
This is because FinTech enable growth opportunities for many sectors, including data analytics, payments, software, platforms e-g crowdfunding and mobile banking. However, presently "we have not seen deeply-established FinTech ecosystems in the region", he said.
The financial free zone will be working closely with key stakeholders to explore and build a conducive FinTech environment to develop innovative services, products and solutions. With their assistance, Abu Dhabi wants to make financial markets and systems more efficient; to promote growth opportunities and anchor FinTech knowledge and expertise in local banks and financial institutions to capitalize on emerging trends and risks, he said.
Richard Teng, chief executive officer of Financial Services Regulatory Authority at ADGM said that the details on its timeline and stakeholders being consulted would be revealed in due course.
Talking about the response from the firms interested in setting up offices in the financial free zone, he said the two of the world known financial institutions Macquaire and Aberdeen have decided to reach out Africa, South Asia and Middle East from Abu Dhabi Global Market. He did not give any timeline as nto when these two companies will setup offices at ADGM.
The chief executive officer said that the zone went into operations on October 1, and since then the response has been "very robust" from both local and international institutions. "Local institutions are utilizing the platform that we have created instead of doing various operations elsewhere, trust set-up, family office can now use ADGM which bring things closer to home." There is scope for financial services and intermediaries in the region from Africa, South Asia and Middle east which can been done in Abu Dhabi, the chief executive said.Earlier, Al Sayegh said ADGM's activities reflect its strategy of cooperation with global funds and trust houses to support Abu Dhabi's ambitions.
Giving his world view, the chairman said global uncertainty and market volatility continue to be seen in 2016, with heightened risk aversion among investors that triggered global equity market declines since the beginning of the year.
- haseeb@khaleejtimes.com