The Fintech Abu Dhabi Festival 2021

The flagship event of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the Fintech Abu Dhabi Festival, has concluded. Over 200 speakers, 80 sessions, and 40 hours of content shaped the global fintech landscape at the event.

The world’s top policymakers, decision-makers, fintech innovators, unicorns, financial sector leaders, and investors all went to the event. The fifth edition of the Middle East’s biggest fintech festival was held in a hybrid format from November 22 to 24, 2021, with the physical event held at ADGM.

Compared to earlier years, the festival’s digital platform saw a surge in foreign interest, with three times as many registrations and participants flying in from 41 different countries this time around.

The festival featured 14 separate forums and segments this year, including the extremely successful Innovation Challenge, Fintech100, Investor Forum, Government Fintech Forum, Youth Circle, Fintech Awards, and new exciting forums:

• CxO21 – a digital banking innovation summit focused on corporate innovation and digital banking
• Token – concentrating on the rapidly changing world of digital assets and currencies
• Fintech for Good – a dedicated forum examining the interconnection of sustainability, fintech, and innovation in greater depth
• Fintech Souk – a close examination of cutting-edge retail and payment developments
• Risk4.0 – a forum focusing on risk management in fintech and financial security

Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Chairman of ADGM, said about this year’s Festival, “Given the rapid pace of transformation across the financial services sector, continued knowledge-sharing on how best to address and embrace these changes is crucial. We at ADGM take great pride in hosting the region’s largest fintech festival alongside esteemed colleagues, respected decision-makers, and leading financial sector and fintech representatives.”

“This year’s Fintech Abu Dhabi Festival will bear no exception to past editions in its aspiration to be inspiring, thought-provoking, and transformative, underpinned by a commitment to highlighting Abu Dhabi as a global capital for financial innovation, investment, and regulatory excellence.”

The Festival’s 2021 edition had taken a huge step forward in terms of growth and influence as a worldwide platform, with the CEOs and Chairmen of multiple major financial institutions, as well as the founders of some of the world’s most promising start-ups, attending for the first time.

The Festival was billed as an invite-only, leadership-only physical forum in the ADGM, complete with digital broadcast. The physical gathering was expected to be the most powerful gathering of financial leaders in the region in 2021.