ADGM Announces Star-studded Line-up for 5th Annual Fintech Abu Dhabi Festival

2021 agenda will see leaders of global financial industry descend on Abu Dhabi, including the CEOs of major banks & financial institutions, founders of nine fintech unicorns, world’s top investors, policy-makers and more

Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international financial centre in Abu Dhabi has announced a stellar global line-up of speakers for the fifth edition of its flagship initiative, the Fintech Abu Dhabi Festival, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

The Festival will take place from 22-24 November 2021, and will be presented in a hybrid format. Delegates of the region’s largest fintech event will see keynote addresses, panel debates and fireside chats led by over 120 industry titans, focused on themes such as sustainability and the dramatic shift to digital financial services accelerated by the pandemic.

Confirmed senior financial sector leaders set to speak in the two-day agenda include, amongst many others:

• H.E Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Minister of State and Chairman of ADGM
• H.E Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development
• H.E. Dr Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy, Director General Chairman of the Board, Arab Monetary Fund
• H.E. AbdulAziz al Ghurair, Chairman of the UAE Bank Federation, Mashreq and Dubai Chamber
• H.E. Mohamed Alabbar, Founder & Managing Director of Emaar
• Jeff Sprecher, Founder of ICE and Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange
• John Collison, Co-founder & President, Stripe
• Bill Winters, Group CEO of Standard Chartered Bank
• Hana Al Rostamani, Group CEO of First Abu Dhabi Bank
• Sandeep Chouhan, Group CEO of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
• Dr Bernd Van Linder, Group CEO of Commercial Bank of Dubai
• Yusuf Ali, Chairman of Lulu Group
• Akon, musician turned fintech entrepreneur
• Nuseir Yasin of Nas Daily fame
• Brady Dougan, Former Group CEO of Credit Suisse
• Annerie Vreugdenhil, Chief Innovation Officer of ING
• Claire Calmejane, Chief Innovation Officer of Societe Generale
• Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund

2021 talk titles include ‘Resilience in the Face of Crisis’, ‘The Great Hybrid Work Experiment’, ‘The Importance of Storytelling in Innovation’, ‘Why Engineers are the New Bankers’, ‘How to Build a Bank’, ‘Tokens & the New Money’, ‘Secrets of Launching a Fintech Venture’ and ‘the Future of the Digital High Street’.

The Fintech Abu Dhabi Festival will also host 150 global investors from top funds like Seqouia, Antler, Techstars, Grayscale and Mubadala, and over 100 of the world’s top fintech startups at the prestigious ‘Fintech100’, including nine global unicorn founders and CEOs, from billion dollar valued fintech startups such as Stripe, Judo, Fawry, Flutterwave, Zeta, Zip, WeLab, Bux and Noon.

Confirmed partners and sponsors for the Festival include Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Etihad, Ma’an, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Stripe, Plug & Play, Mashreq Bank, Arab Monetary Fund, Government of Malta, ADGM Academy, DLA Piper, Hub71, Mubadala Health, Oracle and Securrency.

Emmanuel Givanakis, CEO of the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), said: “The Fintech landscape is brimming with up-and-coming talent and cutting-edge innovative solutions that are positively changing the face of financial services. Our sincerest thanks to our generous sponsors and partners for their support of the Festival. We look forward to welcoming this stellar speaker list of unicorn founders, industry leaders, regulators, academia, and fintechs as they engage and contribute to a successful exchange of knowledge and expertise on the future of the sector.”

This year’s festival will grow to 14 different features and events, including new additions such as CxO21 – a digital transformation summit, Token – a digital assets forum, and Fintech Souk – a forum on cutting edge developments in retail and payments. The festival will also feature recurring agenda items from previous editions, including the Investor Forum, Innovation Challenge, Government Fintech Forum, the Fintech100, the Fintech Abu Dhabi Awards and more.