Khaled Al Khawaldeh (Abu Dhabi)
Hosting a gathering of more than 20,000 experts from the financial sector and with a collective $42 trillion in assets under management at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Abu Dhabi Finance Week returned with a renewed push to cement the city's special financial zone as a global hub for finance.
For famed billionaire investment manager Ray Dalio, the city has emerged as the perfect place to do business during what has been an increasingly tumultuous period characterised by economic fragmentation and conflict.
"I think that Abu Dhabi is a renaissance state, one that will rise in periods of great conflict," Dalio told the audience at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) on Monday.
Dalio likened Abu Dhabi, with its relative neutrality and governance, to city-states like Florence, Venice and Milan which boomed during the Renaissance period (14th–17th centuries). Similarly, Dalio believes the current global climate, characterised by economic tensions between the US and China, could see the city to emerge as a centre for commerce and culture.
"It has all the elements… places where you raise your children, where they're well educated, and they're capable, and they behave civilly together, and they also have a place where there's resources, where you can be inventive," said Dalio.
The billionaire investor and writer's comments were welcomed in a forum that touted ADGM as the "capital of capital" and Abu Dhabi as the perfect base for fund managers, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and businesses.
This year's event is notably larger and more impressive, with multiple stages, 65 thematic events and more than 600 speakers.
In the third quarter of 2024, the centre reported a 215% year-on-year increase in total assets-under-management, with 128 fund and asset managers overseeing 156 funds.
Moreover, ADGM issued 759 new business licences in Q3 2024, marking a 33% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
This growth trend did not appear to stop this week, with 100 "unicorns", one of India's largest early-stage accelerator venture capital funds launching a new $200 million international fund, with a new office in ADGM.
Sergio Ermotti, group CEO of UBS, echoed much of Dalio's remarks, stating that as market fragmentation takes place – and the risk of increasing tariffs increased - many of his clients looked for diversification.
"The UAE and Abu Dhabi will most likely be a beneficiary of this. If you think that around 7,000 people will come to this country in 2024, and I'm talking about millionaires and multi-millionaires will migrate because of a need for diversification and fragmentation, and in a sense, this is an opportunity," he said.
Ermotti warned, however, that the looming risk of the escalation of barriers, tariffs and sanctions could impact the flow of capital and eventually make cost of capital more expensive and put a burden on developing countries in particular.