Fintech Surge 2023, the global gathering for the entire fintech ecosystem, hosted its final day today at its new location, the iconic Dubai Harbour. The event has welcomed thousands of people across the fintech ecosystem over the past four days.
The final day set the stage for the future of retail and digital payments. One of the sessions focused on ‘The Shift From Speculation to Web3 Utility – Spotlighting Payments, FX & Aid’. Miriam Kiwan, Vice President of Middle East and Africa at Circle, highlighted how her company is expanding its presence in the region including within the UAE. She explained why reducing costs of cross border payments is very important as more than 1.7 billion people are under banked globally.
Miriam added that there is a vital need for companies like Circle to provide an alternative to the traditional payments system. She commented: “People are paying very high remittance fees, between 6 to 8%. Using stable coins like USDC can reduce transaction fees. KSA and the UAE represent some of the largest outbound remittances in the world and the Middle East and Africa region is one of the largest crypto corridors internationally. That is why this region needs more expansion in this area.”
As part of its SEM Elevate programme, Fintech Surge has also served as a dynamic launch pad for global start-ups, addressing funding and digital financial literacy challenges for SMEs. Prof. Richard Werner, Chairman of Valhalla Network, gave a keynote on the Future of Retail, AI & Paytech. His talk explained how banks are not just financial intermediaries but have greater roles now across the financial sectors than ever before. Werner outlined the reasons why Germany, for example, has more than ten times as many banks engaged in SME lending than the UK, higher than any number in Europe. The higher the lending for SMEs, the better it is for retail, e-commerce and fintech to grow and prosper.
COO of SingularityNET, Janet Adams, introduced a daring mission to shape the future through Generative AI, exploring the rise of Neural Symbolic LLMs in an ever-evolving AI landscape. She explained how the Middle East is significantly contributing to this journey, while highlighting the need to ensure the ethical use of powerful technologies, reduce inequalities, and pave the path to a positive AI era.
More than 100 exhibitors, 160 speakers and 1,000 investors have attended the premier hub for the global fintech ecosystem, bringing together fintech entrepreneurs, buyers, innovators, investors, and regulators.
As a GITEX Global production and co-located with Future Blockchain Summit, Expand North Star and Marketing Mania, Fintech Surge has provided a platform to scale up the deeply interconnected fintech ecosystem.
