The UAE’s capital has attracted high profile investments from China with several major entities looking to establish presence at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international financial centre, according to the chief executive of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA).

“We aim to aggregate liquidity and investments bringing together the best from the East and the West. In this regard, we have witnessed a sharp uptake in new investments from China,” said Richard Teng, CEO of FSRA.

Speaking at the Investor Forum of FinTech Abu Dhabi, Teng noted that Shanghai Stock Exchange will set up a “Belt and Road” international exchange in ADGM to meet the financing needs of investors and participants in the Belt and Road Initiative.


China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is expected to bring key economic benefits to the UAE in terms of boosting trade, increasing investments, creating jobs and boosting GDP growth. In the first quarter of 2019, bilateral trade between the UAE and China increased by 16.2 percent year-on-year to reach $11.2 billion, according the Emirates News Agency (WAM).

He also said that the China Everbright Group is set to develop a platform in ADGM that focuses on developing funds that drive technology and innovation. “Sensetime, a global leader in AI, will be putting 600 AI developers here to develop best in class technology,” he said. Abu Dhabi’s close proximity to the world’s largest markets, Middle East, Africa, India and China serves as a key catalyst and pillar to position it as an investment hub, according to Teng. The emirate also has one of the largest concentrations of sovereign and private wealth worldwide.

“Asset under management (at ADGM) now stands at $29 billion compared with $4.2 billion as of end 2017, and this figure continues to grow exponentially,” he said highlighting the accelerating growth of ADGM since it started its operations four years ago.


(Writing by Nada Al Rifai nada.rifai@refinitiv.com , editing by Seban Scaria)

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