The Finance Today Summit 2023 | The Wealth Today | 21 November 2023 | Address Dubai Mall, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Blvd - Downtown Dubai - Dubai - UAE

The world is increasingly pushing towards sustainable and digital finance and bringing more efficiency into the contemporary financial industry with the power of technology. With a US$96 billion market cap in the first quarter of 2021 powered by Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT/Blockchain), DeFi (Decentralized Finance) has substantially altered the way we perceived finance.

The industry is abuzz with the news of top banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bigtechs like Mastercard or companies like Visa foraying into DeFi, the traditional finance industry certainly must think of new models to compete or adapt to cohabitate with these emerging technologies carving the financial landscape.

AML and Cyber security being heavy on the agenda of world governments, the DeFi may be far from the realms of mass adoption but with the speed at which the industry is developing, and investments being made, the whole financial industry is at the crossroads of major changes.

With Central Banks displaying their commitment towards innovation and financial inclusion with their keenness to adopt CBDC to increase efficiency, bring the cost down and increase financial inclusiveness, the conference aims to discuss the future path and timelines.

This summit, through a series of interactive sessions and forward-looking agenda, will explore some of the most pertinent topics industry is facing and deep dive into the minds of experts and senior executives on what’s on their minds about how the future of finance looks like.

Past Speakers

Brian Yeoh
Head of Data Governance and Strategy, Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Abu Dhabi Global Market

Ellis Wang
Group Head of Technology, Transformation and Information, Mashreq Bank

Saud Al Dhawyani
Chief Technology Officer, Emirates NBD

Srinivasan Sampath
Acting Chief Technology Officer, First Abu Dhabi Bank

Sridhar K.
Group Head of Operations, ADIB

Charlie Steele
Partner, Forensic Risk Alliance

Alex Mashinsky
CEO, Celsius Network

Ibtissem Lassoued
Partner, Head of Advisory, Regional Financial Crime Practice, Al Tamimi and Company

Gaurav Dubey
CEO, TDeFi

Mohamed Damak
Senior Director Financial Services, S&P Global Ratings

Olivier Crespin
CEO, ZAND

Saeed Al Darmaki
Founder, Sheesha Finance

Ralf Glabischnig
Founder, Crypto Oasis

Kokila Alagh
Founder, KARM Legal

Abbas Basrai
Partner and Head of Financial Services, KPMG Lower Gulf

Pankaj Asthaana
VP - Digital Payments and Labs, MENA, Mastercard

Goncalo Traquina
Partner, KPMG Lower Gulf

Bhavin Shah
Partner and Head Middle East, Forensic Risk Alliance

Marwan Hachem
Founder and Group CEO, YAP

Adeeb Ahamed
Managing Director, Lulu Financial Holding

Akshay Chopra
Vice-President and Head of Innovation and Design CEMEA, Visa

Alex Davis
CIO, Tezos Israel

Ambre Soubiran
CEO, Kaiko

Chris Aruliah
Chief Product Officer, BCB Group

F. Christopher Calabia
CE, DFSA

Gaurang Desai
Managing Director - Strategy, Equiti Group

Georgy Sokolov
Co-founder, Wirex

Henson Orser
President and Acting CEO, Komainu

Igneus Terrenus
Head of Communications, Bybit

Jaynti Kanani
CEO, Polygon (MATIC)

Lawrence Paramasivam
Senior Executive Director, Policy and Legal - Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Abu Dhabi Global Market

Mark Aruliah
Senior Policy Advisory, EMEA, Elliptic

Marwan Bin Dalmook
Head of NBI Service Design and Delivery, du

Dr. Marwan Alzarouni
CEO, Dubai Blockchain Center

Matthew Shanahan
Partner, Norton Rose Fullbright

Mika Thompson
Senior Vice President, Finance, BitOasis

Mohamed Abdel Razek
Regional CIO - MEA, Standard Chartered Bank

Mohit Gupta
Director, XB Services - MENA, Mastercard

Kaiser Naseem
Independent Member Board of Directors, Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance: PICG

Navin Gupta
Managing Director, South Asia and MENA, Ripple

Nishanth Nottath
EVP - Head AML, ABC and RegTech, Mashreq Bank

Patrick South
Head of Business Development, TRM Labs

Pooja Singh CFA
International Organisations Expert, Securities and Commodities Authority

Rajeev Lalwani
Partner, Deloitte

Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo
SVP MENA, Checkout.com

Shantnoo Saxsena
CEO, Encryptus

Sharif El-Badawi
Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Future District Fund

Simon Nelson
SVP, Thunes

Stephen Millington
Partner, Forensic Risk Alliance

M.I. Taher
Head - Middle East and Africa, Stockal

Vinay Bharathwaj
Co Founder and Co CEO, Stockal