From AI and blockchain to sustainable investing and digital economies, the second version of the Dubai FinTech Summit has put the highlight on rising fintech tendencies and their potential to drive monetary progress within the area.
The 2-day occasion, organised by Dubai Worldwide Monetary Centre (DIFC) – the worldwide monetary centre within the Center East, Africa and South Asia area, occurred on the Madinat Jumeirah Convention Centre and it was definitely a bustling, tightly-packed affair, considerably constructing on the momentum from final 12 months’s inaugural occasion.
DIFC Innovation Hub CEO Mohammad Alblooshi highlighted the elevated curiosity on this 12 months’s gathering, with participant numbers hovering from 5,000 to eight,000, hailing from over 100 nations. The variety of audio system tripled from 100 to over 300, whereas the variety of exhibitors doubled from 100 to about 200.
H.H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and President of DIFC, additionally opened up the Summit with some equally spectacular stats on the expansion of fintech within the area.
“Dubai has quickly emerged as a world fintech hub,” he stated. “Dubai has witnessed a surge in fintech funding lately, with whole fintech funding, reaching $2.3billion in 2023. We noticed unprecedented development in 2023 with fintech and innovation because the quickest rising sector with 902 registered firms, a 31 per cent improve from the earlier 12 months.”
He added that the widespread international participation within the summit displays Dubai’s rising place as a “magnet for funding, expertise and innovation within the fintech sector.”
Echoing these sentiments, Arif Amiri, CEO of the DIFC Authority, additional elaborated on Dubai’s increasing affect as a complete international monetary centre. “DIFC has really develop into a world hub of worldwide and regional banks, asset and wealth managers from everywhere in the world, insurance coverage and reinsurance corporations, in addition to household places of work and supporting corporations,” he stated.
What we discovered from the audio system
Throughout one fireplace chat, Nik Storonsky, founder and CEO of Revolut, outlined how the neobank is eager to increase its presence within the area, leveraging Dubai’s infrastructure and investor-friendly insurance policies. Whereas in one other fireplace chat, we discovered that Julius Baer, a Swiss financial institution working inside the DIFC, presently has no speedy plans to nominate a everlasting CEO. Nic Dreckmann, the interim chief govt, instructed the significance of persistence within the seek for the proper candidate, saying: “I believe we take the time that it takes.”
A panel that includes Craig Moore, founder and CEO of peer-to-peer lending platform Beehive, Ola Doudin, CEO and co-founder of BitOasis, a digital asset alternate, Mirna Sleiman, founder and CEO of Fintech Galaxy, the fintech group platform, and Tariq Sheikh, founding father of Postpay, a fintech answer supplier, shared experiences and insights on establishing within the Gulf area.
All of them praised Dubai’s attraction for fintech startups, noting its supportive laws, numerous expertise pool and thriving expat and investor communities. Additionally they highlighted Dubai’s life-style advantages, together with its tax-free setting, multiculturalism, and vibrant expat group, making it an excellent hub for fintech innovation and development, with Sleiman noting: “Nothing beats the approach to life that Dubai presents, particularly for households.”
In a keynote tackle, Hany Rashwan, co-founder and CEO of 21.Co, an issuer of crypto ETPs, mentioned the transformative potential of cryptocurrency, emphasising its capability to allow trustless transactions and programmable cash. He highlighted Bitcoin’s stability and function as digital gold, whereas additionally declaring two areas of development: the tokenisation of belongings and the enlargement of programmable cash past Bitcoin.
Whereas Patrycja Oselkowska, a companion at Deloitte Digital gave digital banks meals for thought, highlighting 4 key parts for banks to earn belief: humanity, transparency, functionality and reliability.
Information updates
AI launch
Singapore-based Dyna.Ai, an AI expertise service firm, selected the Dubai Fintech Summit 2024 to launch its operations throughout the Center East, Africa, Europe and Asia, in addition to the US, as a part of a world enlargement.
Dyna.Ai’s AI platform is designed to supply enterprise-level generative AI fashions that includes knowledge curation, superior customisation, retrieval-augmented technology and enhanced efficiency. It consists of two options: Dyna Athena for text-to-speech, language and speech processing, and Dyna Avatar for digital human interactions.
Each options supply LLM-powered, task-specific options tailor-made for banks, fintechs, and varied companies, enhancing pure language interactions to make conversations “extra reasonable and fascinating”.
“We’re thrilled to kickstart our international enlargement from the Dubai Fintech Summit,” defined Dyna.Ai chairman Tomas Skoumal. “Dyna.Ai not solely gives skilled AI options within the monetary discipline, but in addition presents a singular and modern RaaS (End result as a Service) enterprise mannequin, Dyna Ai helps pay for efficiency and gives companies that may generate enterprise outcomes for banks, insurance coverage, wealth and fintechs.”
Palm recognition
Astra Tech, a client expertise holding group within the MENA area, introduced the launch of Palm Pay by way of its Central Financial institution of the UAE licensed fintech subsidiary PayBy.
Palm Pay is a contactless palm recognition service that permits clients to hover their palm over a tool to make funds – a primary for the area.
“The UAE is now dwelling to a first-of-its-kind expertise that simplifies and secures how our clients work together with the world round them,” stated Abdallah Abu Sheikh, founding father of Astra Tech and CEO of Botim. “Palm Pay exemplifies our drive to deliver revolutionary applied sciences to the area and As the only real supplier of this expertise, we’re proud to set new requirements within the fintech sector and contribute to the UAE’s status as a world expertise hub.”
Cross-border fee partnership
Throughout the summit, TerraPay, a cash transfers firm, unveiled a partnership with financial institution challenger Multipass, to reinforce cross-border fee options for company shoppers. Multipass will faucet into TerraPay’s international funds community, enabling broader attain and native payouts in a number of currencies.
Rami Chedid, CEO of Multipass for the UAE and the Center East, highlighted the strategic significance of this alliance for offering safe, quick fee options to worldwide entrepreneurs, notably as Multipass expands within the UAE and past.
He additionally highlighted that Multipass has begun the method to acquire a monetary companies licence from the Dubai Monetary Providers Authority, with operations anticipated to start out quickly, enhancing the worldwide fee capabilities for UAE-based companies from day one.
