PwC at Dubai Fintech Summit 2023

The first ever Dubai Fintech Summit took place in May 2023 in Dubai and PwC was well represented throughout.

The Summit brought together an impressive 5000+ C-suite Leaders, 1000+ Investors, 100+ Exhibitors from 100+ Countries and 150+ Speakers participating in an eclectic range of sessions, countless meetings, and networking discussions. The Summit is backed by the Dubai government, and held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohamed Al Maktoum, Deputy ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Finance. His Excellency attended on the first day for the opening ceremony which featured a keynote from H.E Ezza Kasim, Governor of the DIFC authority.

Our participation

PwC hosted two of the 15 DFS Dialogues which were exclusive closed roundtable discussions around the key themes of the Summit.

Payments 2035: How payments in the region will evolve over the next decade roundtable: This was hosted by PwC’s Financial Services Consulting Partner and Payments Leader, Ian Hooper, with participants consisting of key clients along with leading global payment fintechs. The discussion revolved around who and what will drive payments in the Middle East, the role of the regulators, what are the current and future disruptors, and what will payments look like in the future?

Read the full outcome report here

Data Privacy and AI in the Future of Finance roundtable: This was moderated by PwC’s Data Privacy Leader, Phil Mennie, with participation from regulators and subject matter experts from the private sector. The participants explored and discussed how privacy regulations impact the development and use of AI within financial services, the recent DIFC Consultation on AI obligations, data privacy in the context of Virtual Asset Regulation and more.

Read the full outcome report here

PwC and DIFC Innovation Hub came together to announce the launch of a first of its kind partnership between an advisory firm and a financial centre and sign the Letter of Intent. The partnership will support the Fintech community and accelerate the commercial maturity of the DIFC Innovation Hub with its 680+ fintech and innovation companies.

The partnership will establish a weekly in-person ‘clinic’ run by PwC subject matter experts for the Hub for Innovation community members. The partnership kicked off with a #PwCattheHub takeover hosted at the DIFC Hive on 13 June with a full day of workshops and support.

Across the year the DIFC community will get the opportunity to interact with PwC’s experts across the breadth of the firm's services from assurance,data privacy, consulting, payroll, legal, tax deals and more.