Abu Dhabi Finance Week has confirmed more than 200 international speakers for its fifth edition, scheduled for December 7 to 10, 2026, at the Grand Steps on Al Maryah Island. For anyone tracking the emirate's push to build out its financial sector, the scale of this year's lineup signals how far the event has grown since its launch.
The event is hosted by Abu Dhabi Global Market and is themed 'The Capital Community, Powered by Partnerships'. Organizers expect more than 35,000 participants across the four days, with over 70 specialized events and more than 800 speakers in total once the full program is counted.
Why Abu Dhabi's financial standing matters here
The timing lines up with Abu Dhabi's broader financial profile. The emirate is home to more than $1.8 trillion in sovereign wealth assets, and it ranked first in the region and 12th globally in the inaugural NYU Stern Financial Centres Competitiveness Index. Those figures give context to why so many global financial institutions are willing to send senior leadership to the event.
What's returning and what's new
Several flagship components are back for further editions. The Abu Dhabi Economic Forum returns for a third edition, Assets Abu Dhabi is back for a fifth, the Fintech Forum reaches its 10th edition, and the Sustainable Finance Forum stages its ninth.
Alongside the returning programs, organizers have added several new formats for 2026: the inaugural Abu Dhabi Real Estate Summit, the AIMA Global Hedge Fund Leaders Platform, the Hub71 Startups Campus, and a Healthcare and BioTech Forum. Together they suggest an effort to widen the event's scope beyond traditional banking and asset management into real estate, hedge funds, startups and healthcare-linked finance.
Who is expected to attend
The confirmed speaker list draws from a wide range of global finance, government and technology figures, including Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, Dr Sultan bin Saif Al Neyadi, Shamis Ali Khalfan Al Dhaheri, Salem AlNuaimi, Majid Al Suwaidi, Dr Tariq bin Hendi, Mohamed Abdelbary and Hamad Al Ameri from the UAE side.
International finance leaders on the list include Antonoaldo Neves, Oliver Bäte of Allianz SE, Tan Su Shan of DBS Group, Ron O'Hanley of State Street, Bill Winters of Standard Chartered, Clare Woodman of Morgan Stanley, Stefan Bollinger of Julius Baer, Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara of Temasek Holdings, Andreas Berger of Swiss Re, Charles R. Kaye of Warburg Pincus, Hendrik du Toit of Ninety One, Tarek Sultan of Agility, and Steven Desmyter of Man Group.
Also confirmed are Jenny Johnson of Franklin Templeton, Katie Koch of TCW, Tobias C. Pross of Allianz Global Investors, Marc C. Ganzi of DigitalBridge, Dmitry Balyasny of Balyasny Asset Management, Mike Freno of Barings, David Druley of Cambridge Associates, Stefan Hoops of DWS, Chamath Palihapitiya of Social Capital, Richard Teng of Binance, JoeBen Bevirt of Joby Aviation, Robert Smith of Vista Equity, Pascal Gauthier of Ledger, Lily Liu of the Solana Foundation, and Charles Cascarilla of Paxos. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is also listed among confirmed participants.