On 25 September 2026 ADGM unveiled the expanded programme of the fifth Abu Dhabi Finance Week, running 7–10 December in Abu Dhabi. Over 300 global financial leaders managing more than USD 61 trillion in assets are already confirmed — on track to beat last year's USD 62 trillion record. The programme grows from 60 to 75 events, stages expand from 6 to 8, and 10 new themed platforms are launching.
The year's theme: The Capital Community, Powered by Partnerships. Primary source: the ADGM press release distributed via PR Newswire on 25 September 2026. The forum runs under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.
What ADFW is and why it counts
ADFW is the annual finance forum ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market, the emirate's international financial centre) has run since 2022. Over four years it has grown into the MENA region's main window for direct dialogue between global investors, asset managers, banks, regulators and technology firms. The fifth edition in 2026 is being presented as the largest yet — by number of events, by participant AUM, and by the breadth of institutional partnerships.
The format: four days on multiple parallel stages, dozens of closed-door sessions, public summits, investor forums, business match-making. For a portal reader, the takeaway is simple: for one week in December Abu Dhabi becomes a concentration point of global capital, and understanding the ADFW agenda is a baseline for knowing where money, regulators and technology are moving into 2027. It also fits the wider 2026 economic outlook for the UAE: turning Abu Dhabi from a regional trade point into a global financial hub.
Scale: 300+ CEOs, USD 61 trillion in assets
According to ADGM, more than 300 global financial leaders have already been confirmed — CEOs, chairmen, senior managers. Their combined assets under management exceed USD 61 trillion. For context, last year's edition drew participants with USD 62 trillion in AUM — a record. Organisers say 2026 is “on track” to surpass it.
The programme is growing too: from 60 events on 6 stages in 2025 to 75 events on 8 stages in 2026. That is 25% more sessions and two additional stages.
10 new platforms: from real estate to the AI capital stack
The headline update for 2026 is 10 new themed platforms. The ADGM press release names nine:
- Abu Dhabi Real Estate Summit — an institutional CRE track focused on Abu Dhabi.
- AIMA Global Hedge Fund Leadership Platform — the global alternative investment association's forum for hedge-fund industry leaders.
- Health Finance & Innovation Forum — jointly with the Atlantic Council, at the intersection of healthcare and capital.
- CNBC AI Capital Stack Summit — how capital is stacking up around AI infrastructure.
- Next Three Billion Summit — with Semafor, on the markets of the next three billion users.
- Treasury Leadership Forum — corporate and sovereign treasury.
- US-UAE Trade Corridor Forum — the bilateral trade and investment corridor.
- Hub71 Growth Stage — a dedicated venue for scale-ups from ADGM's Hub71 start-up hub.
- New Energy Finance — with XRG, financing of new energy.
The tenth platform has not been named publicly as of the 25 September announcement — ADGM has said it will reveal the details closer to December. We will update the article once the list closes.
Strategic partners and the Global Financial Regulators Summit
The institutional perimeter is expanding too. New strategic collaborations have been announced with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union, the Arab Monetary Fund, AIMA, Atlantic Council, CNBC, Yicai and Semafor, alongside other international institutions. A separate partnership line — UBS, Standard Chartered, Hanwha Finance, Binance and ADIO — will span investment, wealth, AI and international markets.
ADGM specifically highlights the Global Financial Regulators Summit: in 2026 it runs in a significantly expanded format, with regulators from more than 50 countries expected to participate. The agenda: tokenisation, regulatory innovation and the evolution of global financial frameworks. For companies working in digital assets and stablecoins, this is a rare chance to hear positions from several jurisdictions in one place and see where the regulatory line is shifting.
The cross-border track has been reinforced along four axes in 2026: China, South Korea, the European Union and the United States. Each has its own dedicated forums and dialogues to support cross-border investment and business partnerships. From a UAE trade-policy standpoint this is a logical extension of the country's push to expand its CEPA trade agreement network: where CEPA opens regulatory access, ADFW opens the capital access.
Four days, four angles
Organisers structured the programme around four thematic days:
- Day 1 — Abu Dhabi's Falcon Economy, global markets and macroeconomic megatrends.
- Day 2 — asset management, private markets and wealth.
- Day 3 — AI, fintech, digital assets and financial innovation.
- Day 4 — sustainable finance and long-term economic and societal resilience.
The UBS Investor Forum and the flagship line-up of sessions on global markets, asset management, fintech, AI and sustainable finance carry over from previous editions.
What the ADGM Chairman says
From the ADGM Chairman H.E. Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi quoted in the press release: “Abu Dhabi's rise as a global centre for capital is being reinforced by the growing scale and ambition of Abu Dhabi Finance Week. This year, we are bringing together a broader community of global investors, financial institutions, policymakers, innovators and entrepreneurs, with an expanded agenda that reflects where capital is moving and where new opportunities are emerging.”
And further: “Scale alone is not the measure of ADFW's success. Its strength lies in the partnerships it creates. As markets become more interconnected and the forces shaping investment more complex, ADFW provides a platform for the world's financial community to build relationships, exchange perspectives and create opportunities that extend well beyond the week itself.”
First-wave speakers
Among the confirmed speakers as of 25 September, the press release highlights the founders of multi-billion-dollar technology unicorns Crusoe, Higgsfield AI and XPANCEO, along with David Rubenstein, CBE, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group. Also: senior leaders from JPMorgan, Santander, Morgan Stanley, State Street and UBS. The expanding line-up includes CEOs, founders and chairmen from Standard Chartered, Revolut, Stonepeak, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Christie's, Systematica Investments and GCM Grosvenor. Further speakers and programme details will be announced in the lead-up to December.
What this means for UAE business and investors
Several practical takeaways.
For founders and scale-ups. ADFW 2026 is a rare concentration of LPs, VCs and family offices in one geography. Hub71 Growth Stage is the dedicated venue for growth-stage start-ups. Even if you're not a speaker, the adjacent events give access to an investor circle otherwise spread across London, New York and Hong Kong for the other 51 weeks of the year.
For asset managers and family offices. AIMA Global Hedge Fund Leadership Platform, Treasury Leadership Forum and the Day Two wealth track are the direct audience. UBS Investor Forum remains the flagship.
For digital-asset, AI and fintech companies. CNBC AI Capital Stack Summit + Day Three (AI, fintech, digital assets) + the expanded Global Financial Regulators Summit — a rare chance to see capital and regulator in the same week. Especially relevant for anyone working around stablecoins and tokenisation.
For those trading US-UAE and Asia-UAE. The US-UAE Trade Corridor Forum and the dedicated China and South Korea dialogues are a direct instrument to gauge where trade and investment corridors will move in 2027.
For those still planning UAE entry. The forum is a strong indicator that the emirate's financial infrastructure keeps integrating into the global loop. For the practical registration step, this is one more argument for the mainstream route — the standard step-by-step process of opening a company in the UAE.
What is not yet known
We flag the boundary of the known as of 25 September 2026:
- The press release names nine of the ten new platforms; the tenth is not yet announced.
- Exact dates and locations of individual sessions within 7–10 December will be published by ADGM later.
- The full list of the 300+ confirmed leaders and the detailed speaker line-up will be released in stages, ADGM says “in the lead-up to ADFW 2026”.
- Access rules for individual platforms (closed / by-invitation / paid) — check the official site adfw.com.
We will update the article as new details are released by ADGM.
