DX at Abu Dhabi Fintech 2021

We, as DX Compliance, had the privilege and pleasure to be a part of the region’s biggest Fintech Festival. We  were able to meet and rub shoulders with some of the most influential and innovative fintech companies in the region.

The fifth edition of the FinTech Abu Dhabi Festival was held from 22 – 24 November 2021. It featured global leaders from the financial sector from 41 countries to discuss the rapid pace of change in the financial sector. The event was held and sponsored by His Highness Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

The in-person event was attended by a limited number of people. However,  Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) hosted the Fintech conference online on Tuesday; there have been three times more people registered than anticipated, including key policy makers, FinTech innovators, financial sector leaders, investors and unicorns with a $1 billion valuation or more.

Through a mix of virtual and onsite sessions, participants around the world were able to access digital content with curated in-person events giving attendees the chance to engage in in-person conversations and business-building opportunities.

They key events by ADGM were:

• Government Fintech Forum: A policy leadership forum.
• Fintech for Good: A sustainable innovation forum.
• Fintech Souk: The commerce and payments forum.
• CxO21: A digital banking innovation forum.
• Token: A blockchain forum.
• Risk4.0: A risk & security forum.
• The Fintech Abu Dhabi Awards
• Innovation Challenge demo day.
• The Plug and Play demo day.

The DX team has been on the ground during the event. It was great to see so many familiar faces and people from all over the world, including our neighbour startups from Hub71 participating in numerous sessions.

While Covid-19 is still in the world, the high safety measures made it possible to meet people also in person and to show them that innovation is not just a word. It’s a mindset.

Regtech for many is a subset of Fintech and while the Regtech Market is a global market,  Fintech seems to still be a very local game for many. This year’s Abu Dhabi Fintech Festival has shown that the Fintech Game is changing, and changing fast.

Given the impact on Fintech, it is better to see Regtech as a Fintech enabler working on a formula: Where Fintech is Regtech!

Benefits of Regtech include:

• Scale faster and better
• Reducing (human) errors, meaning improve accuracy
• Enable compliance to fight the unknown

The team enjoyed the festival thoroughly, both the in-person and virtual events. We are looking forward to the next one.