Abu Dhabi Global Market receives 166 applications for fintech challenge

Financial free zone Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) received a total of 166 applications in less than two weeks for its fintech innovation challenge, the organisation announced.

The challenge, which is part of the inaugural FinTech Abu Dhabi event in October, will see start-up firms take part in a five-week programme to develop solutions to address business challenges within the financial services industry.

ADGM said it received applications from the UK, Singapore, India, the US, Hong Kong, China, Australia, the UAE and Africa before the process closed on August 25.

Read: Abu Dhabi Global Market, KPMG launch fintech challenge for start-ups

From this group, ADGM and professional services firm KPMG will select 10 finalists to develop solutions for industry problems in six areas including financial and investment management, financial inclusion, regtech, trade finance, insurtech and private capital markets.

The training programme is expected to begin from September 17 and will cover the costs associated with travel and accommodation for the entrants as they prepare to showcase their solutions at the October 22 FinTech Demo Day to a panel of industry experts.

“We are excited to have received such strong support from the global FinTech community in response to our call for innovative solutions to address real business challenges in this region,” said Wai Lum Kwok, executive director of capital markets, financial services regulatory authority of ADGM

“What is equally impressive is the quality of the solutions that have been proposed and their stage of readiness for production or implementation.”

Abu Dhabi is among a group of regional cities vying to become the Gulf’s fintech hub.

Both Bahrain and Dubai have announced new regulation this year designed to allow fintech firms greater flexibility in testing and experimenting with new ideas.

Read: Bahrain says UK’s Tramonex, Dubai’s NOW Money sign up to fintech sandbox

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) also launched an accelerator programme for financial technology start-ups in collaboration with Accenture in January.

The first 11 finalists for the 12-week programme were selected last month.

Read: Dubai FinTech Hive accelerator selects first 11 finalists