Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2025 Hits High Notes with Fintech Talks, Awards, and Deals

Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2025 keeps drawing crowds for finance events. Days three and four brought CEO panels, award ceremonies, office openings, and partnerships. The Manila Times covered day three’s Fintech Abu Dhabi and RESOLVE events under the theme ‘Engineering the Capital of Capital’.

Fintech Abu Dhabi Gathers Top CEOs

Fintech Abu Dhabi, the MENA region’s biggest fintech event, focused on tokenisation, AI, digital banking, and stablecoins. Speakers included Brian Armstrong of Coinbase, Jeremy Allaire of Circle, Richard Teng of Binance, Jennifer Johnson of Franklin Templeton, Anthony Soohoo of MoneyGram, and Ambareen Musa of Revolut. Teng addressed crypto market volatility and its path to trusted infrastructure. Banking leaders from State Street, Al Hilal Bank, and Piraeus Group shared digitisation plans. Investors from FJ Labs and Standard Chartered Ventures talked about spotting startups. Read the full recap in The Manila Times.

In parallel, RESOLVE’s fourth edition on the theme ‘Courage’ covered dispute resolution, crypto regulation, AI legal strategies, and capital markets. H.E. Abdullah Sultan bin Awad Al Nuaimi, UAE Minister of Justice, gave the keynote. Other speakers: ADGM Courts’ Linda Fitz-Alan, Matthew Lewis of Hintsa Performance, Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph, and Nancy Gleason of MBZUAI.

Day three also saw Galaxy Digital and Eurasian Development Bank open ADGM offices. SAAS Properties unveiled The Ritz-Carlton Residences on Al Maryah Island. Twenty-four MoUs got signed, including Blackrock, Finstreet, Swiss Re, Crypto.com, and Hanwha.

MENA Fintech Awards Hand Out Wins

The fourth MENA Fintech Awards happened at ADQ Arena. Organized by MENA Fintech Association with ADFW and Abu Dhabi Global Markets, they recognized AI, blockchain, payments, and more. Nameer Khan, association chairman, said winners position MENA as a global fintech hub. PK Gulati chaired the jury.

Best AI in Fintech: Smart Bricks
Best Banking Partner: Ruya Bank
Best Blockchain-Based Solution: Crypto.com
Best Corporate Solutions: Aquanow
Best Cybersecurity/Fraud Prevention: Black Cell Middle East
Best Digital Lending: Tamara
Best Embedded Finance: Paymentology
Best Financial Education: Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE)
Best Fintech Marketing: Paysky
Best Fintech Onboarding: Azakaw
Best Innovative Payment Tech: Geidea
Best KYC Solution: Sumsub
Best Mobile Payments: Yalla Super App
Best Open Finance/API: Ozone API
Best Payments Solution: Tap Payments
Best RegTech: Uqudo
Fintech of the Year: Checkout.com

TahawulTech.com has jury details and more.

ADIO and Prudential Financial Strike Deal

Abu Dhabi Investment Office signed with Prudential Financial to grow retirement savings, income solutions, and reinsurance. Part of the FIDA cluster led by ADDED and ADIO (Economy Middle East), it targets UAE and GCC markets. Expected impacts: AED56 billion added to Abu Dhabi GDP, 8,000 direct jobs, AED17 billion in investment. H.E. Badr Al-Olama called it part of the Falcon Economy. Prudential’s Dylan Tyson and PGIM’s Mohammed Abdulmalek highlighted global expertise for local needs. See the announcement from Media Office Abu Dhabi.

Balyasny CIO on Expansion and AI

Dmitry Balyasny, CIO of Balyasny Asset Management, joined a podcast at ADFW. He discussed the firm’s Abu Dhabi expansion, AI agents, and 2026 market outlook. The National hosted the talk.

IMF’s Jihad Azour said the Middle East remains resilient despite risks, speaking on ADFW sidelines. Bloomberg video.

ADFW wraps with the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Forum.