Vision, Volatility, and Velocity What Fintech CEOs Are Betting On Next

Good afternoon and salam alaikum. Thank you very much for staying with us uh till this hour. Um we're going to unpack what uh these uh fintech CEOs are betting on in future. So to begin with, let's do a recap and update on your the latest iteration of your products and services. Let's start with Kit since you are closest to me.

Um you provide enterprise solution for the uh crypto industry using blockchain technology. So what is the latest uh in your in your company? Yeah, look I I think what's interesting is crypto asset is the first asset class Tesla on the blockchain digital assets and I think it's pretty clear with the audience today that digital asset blockchain is here to stay and the question is how do you bridge the traditional financial system as they go tokenized or as they move on chain and what Luca does is we provide that orchestration between system data and blockchains and really providing the data infrastructure to interconnect So if you think about a firm that wants to trade digital asset for example and they trade on 4 or 500 exchanges something as simple as Bitcoin, Bitcoin's got 30 plus tickers. How do you map and normalize that vast data set across these on and offchain activities? That's what Luca does.

Okay. So what is the latest uh development in your in in your business right now?

Our latest development is definitely leveraging AI.

Okay. Um our view is there's only two types of company in the future. Those that are out of business and those that are using AI to get everyone out of business.

Okay, let's get back to that point later on. T welcome. Um you are a trading platform, multiple uh assets. What is the latest in your business?

Oh, thank you. Um for us we have seen 2025 a massive boom um in trading participation in the UAE and numina markets overall uh over 1.5 trillion uh was traded in the first half of this year out of which 800 uh billion in this market and 72 uh% from the UAE. So we see you know all-time highs in in gold and bitcoin in a number of different asset classes. um and the market really uh wanting participation in uh exposure to all these uh different crypto and uh commodity classes from here.

Right. Amberine, welcome. You are a subscriptionbased digital banking app uh via the mobile. You offer all kinds of bank accounts, debit cards, credit cards. What's the latest in your business?

Yeah, I'll um first of all, thank you for having me. I will start potentially with a global company um before coming and zooming into the UAE. So as a as a global company, Revolute just hit the 65 million customer base. Um we are a one app or if you want the super app for your all your all your managing your money, so your personal finances. Um we have uh just recently announced a fund raise at a $75 billion valuation.

Now, if I zoom in globally into the UA market, as you would have heard a couple of months ago, we received our in principal approval from the central bank for an SVF and RSP license. What that means is the two licenses that allows us to do multiurrency cards, allows us to do payments. Um, and this we're now still working with the central bank very closely to eventually get our full license to be able to launch in the UA in the near future.

All right. Thank you. So to help us arrive at this uh to get a glimpse of what you guys are all u betting on, let's take a look at the competitive landscape that you all operate in. What who are your biggest competitors? What are they doing and what are you watching out for?

Let's uh start with Amberine.

Um I like that question. I get asked the same question every single time. I met Jay just outside your he goes every time everywhere I go they keep asking me about you.

[laughter]

ask him and ask me. Okay. Um, no, look, I look at competition in a very different way, right? I think if you look at the market, we we're expecting another 9 million people coming into the the the UAE. So, if you think about competition is there is less of a one will take each other's pie, but the the pie is bas the share of the pie is actually increasing as a whole.

So, I think that's fantastic news as the economy grows here. The second part of competition is we look at what we watch out. personally I watch out for are companies whether it's a traditional bank whether it's a payments company whether it's a digital bank it doesn't make that much of a difference to me is who is the one who can really keep up with consumer behavior changes who is the one who can really adapt to disruptive consumer behavior and to me that's the biggest disruptor um of the ecosystem I mean the technology is but consumer behavior and the change in that behavior is not happening or changing every decade anymore more that's changing on a yearly basis on a six months basis. Can you adapt? Who is the one and and and and when we talk about revolute I mean how we compete I think for the Middle East anyway is we bring in a global breath of um of services.

So we allow customers to really uh we really target global customers um as a whole um and we compete on seamless customer experience. So you're laser focused on the customers and the user behavior. What about you TK? Are you are you equally focused on on on customers? Yeah, I mean I've been uh in this market for 10 years here in the UAE and you can really see how we have progressed and the demand to any kind of app whether it's a banking app, a crypto exchange or a trading app uh has gone through the roof and if you don't keep up with that demand you have no chance in uh in surviving.

Uh when I came a lot of people here used to look at the European markets, the UK, the US um as kind of best-in-class but now everyone is here, everyone is on the ground, everyone is competing for the same kind of customer. So um you you better be ready to compete. Um and things that are really important here is, you know, easy to use kind of award-winning apps is is the absolute minimum. And if you don't um invest into making things simple and very easy to use, you have no chance in in survival here.

Right, Kit? Your business case is a little bit different, right? You're you're providing enterprise solution to enterprise businesses, right? Um those customers behave differently. How how are you addressing them?

The good news is there's more and more institutions participating in crypto and digital assets. So you know our TAM is growing and the customer we service is growing. So from our perspective it's not about focusing on the competitor definitely be aware what the competitors are doing but understand how your client's business and workflow is changing and really to the point is to focus on the customer and build the right solutions as their business evolve which is key.

What about the regulatory framework? Let's move on to the regulatory framework. you all are disruptors in one in a way in your respective fields. What are how are you um getting ahead or keeping a breast of regulatory of the different regulatory frameworks? Um let's let's start with you.

What are the rules uh that you currently navigate? Um what are the latest situations? Is there a particular stumbling block that you need to get across?

Well, so we're a solution provider, so we're not regulated. But the good news is I see regulation of a convergence and more clarity. And so one example is cough right a lot of our clients need a solution around meeting the cough requirement. So these things actually open up more opportunities for us as regulatoratory clarity is becoming a thing for everybody.

Right. You also operate globally. Can I just quickly follow up and say and ask whether uh globally speaking um uh rules are becoming easier for for the crypto industry to operate? Definitely. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. TK, what about your your in your uh field? What are the the regulations that you have to overcome? Are there particular stumbling blocks that are preventing you from expanding globally or regionally?

I mean, I'll start with the UAE and uh what we have experienced here in our licensing process uh was nothing uh short but amazing. Uh we speak to regulators all across the world. This is probably one of the only countries where the regulator is very business focused and uh you whether it's ADGM, DFC, ESCA, VRA, everyone wants uh companies to come into the country and set up a shop here and makes it very easy. So um for us it's not so much a struggle it is much more a dialogue between regulator and us uh trying to enable uh business here and Marine. Um sure.

Um I think regulators here well in the region anyway are basically taking the vision and it's very well aligned with the vision 2030 and of each country for that matter and I don't think it's just a UAE thing but what we've seen in the last 12 to 24 months is a major push towards opening and it's a major push towards FDI a major push towards sophistication towards digital digital assets and I think that's a phenomenal um step forward into the right direction. There's a lot more to do. There's a lot more to come, but we have to also remember that regulator's job is to really protect the ecosystem and make sure that nobody ends up on on their faces, right? So, I think it's it's we're all learning at the same time. Uh for that matter, I look after the GCC.

So we are talking to regulators all around um consistently and I believe um I believe the next couple of years will be very very interesting and very exciting opportunities opening up in the region.

Sounds good. Uh what I'm hearing is that it's all it's all very positive. The the the regulators the environment is the market is very conducive to doing business. Um and the regulations are easing is fantastic. What are the risks?

What are the downsides? What are the unknowns that you deal with that possibly keep you up at night?

Yeah, look, I think there's there's two perspective. There's digital asset and blockchain as a technology for adoption and then there's crypto assets, right? And I think when there's volatility, it does cause angst for a lot of market participants. That I would say is one area that keep me up at night. And then the the second component is you see how fast AI is evolving and and I do think you know you can now have two person in a garage building a competitive product quite fast and so you got to keep your eye on the ball and be fast and nimble from that perspective.

Okay. For me it's uh it's not regulation that's keeping you up as night. It's it's much more businessoriented goals. um you know there is a lot of competition and staying ahead of the curve and investing in uh continuous innovation and uh using AI for example as one of the tools to really separate you from other people and being able to implement this quickly enough to keep ahead and in in the eyes of the consumer um relevant as a player is is very very important. There's a lot of engineers and and companies here investing a lot into this because the bar just keeps getting higher and higher.

Are there downside risks in your in your business?

So, the first point is obviously the speed of change and making sure that whatever you're doing, you don't miss the boat. And I've seen a lot of companies missing the boat no matter how big they are. So, I don't think you're ever too big to fail. Um, I think that's one area, but two, for me, it's it doesn't keep it at night. But if you ask me, challenges though of setting up businesses here is talent.

Adding talent is a major major issue that we're still facing specifically in technologies that are growing so fast that it doesn't we don't even have time to even breathe the talent through. So we have to get people from abroad but even that it's not as easy as just walking the door. I think talent is one of the major issues or concerns that we have. We're trying to build out on it but um it's not easy to find uh to find the right talent in the in the right industry. Uh that's probably the two things that

right now if we look back the last year you remember that in April after a certain individual in the white house unveiled his uh April Fool's Day joke otherwise known as uh liberation day the global financial markets took a bit of a tumble as well as uh crypto prices. So I want to ask you whether in your business you are subject to geopolitical risks or shocks uh as a result of geopolitics. Do you see that? Is that something that you think about or are worried about?

Look, I think every business is exposed to a certain extent.

Yeah.

Right. I I think

when uncertainty comes, you know, we provide solutions to institutions, right? So, everyone's wallet starts to tighten when there's a lot more uncertainty in that perspective. trading.

Yeah, I mean in trading you know any kind of shock to a market uh whether it's political or otherwise um moves the markets and there's there's a lot of um expectation on on the platforms to to perform in those markets. So we see a lot of um volatility during those times and a lot of interest in uh in our product uh through throughout the year. in in that time that you described uh there was definitely heightened interest in in getting exposure.

Is there any way of protecting your business from these kinds of shocks?

I mean there there are shocks that we all live with every single day, right? So

right,

look the the reality is any business there's optimizing signal versus noise.

Yes.

Right. There'll always be noise and things will happen all the time. But what I love about running a business and looking to hear your thoughts is is that creativity that you can bring to the table every day is how fast you can change and evolve and I think with technology advancement is enabling us to do so. Right. So that's why I think this is the most exciting time to run a business.

Right. Can you elaborate on that? Uh separating the noise from the from the signals.

Yeah. Look, you you see a lot of whether it's market volatility, whether it's things that change on a daily basis

and you know, as a CE of a company, you need to understand where that northstar is, right? And really getting clarity on what's real and what's not. Look, what's real is digital asset blockchain. It is real. It's here to stay.

And you're going to see a lot more traditional assets moving into this real. We're seeing it. Tokenized funds, tokenized money market, etc. That's real, right? Volatility, it'll always happen.

The market will tank. Give me a day, it may happen, right? These things are forever reality. So, don't let that distract you running a business,

right? Okay. Earlier on, Kit mentioned the role of AI in in his business. Are you how are you using AI in your businesses?

Um, go ahead. Um yeah, I mean AI is is something that everyone has to implement and I think uh we we're starting uh by looking in inside our company first what processes can be um improved and optimized and then go out uh towards customerf facing kind of products and with with the first few now being rolled out um which is very exciting you you know once you have scale as a company um AI really helps you in tackling that scale where uh whether it's data or customers you you can uh do a lot of fun things with it.

Do you do recommendations using AI?

Uh we are an execution only platform so we don't give any kind of recommendations but we know that the end customer is uh certainly playing around with AI to to help them make better decisions.

Amarine are you using apart from efficiency and productivity?

Yeah I I mean customer service and customer experience is a is a great place to start. Um, I think as Tar just said, using AI to give recommendations depending on the licenses you have. Some companies can, but some companies can't. And you kind of want to be careful what kind of recommendations it's giving out as well. I think we're still quite early days, but from a customer service experience, um, we've seen some major uptake um, in in terms of uh the quality of responses, in terms of how many how many issues and how many concerns get escalated.

We've seen some really really great results. Now if you go a couple of steps forward and that's not for revolute particularly but if you look at banks out there um who actually using AI a lot of them are starting to use AI in their risk management um the issue there is regulation right so you can start using AI in how you actually build your risk system but there are no regulations around how what can because if when you use in your risk your risk credit analysis it's changing all the time right so the type of customers who's risky who's not so risky depending on the amount of data And as you reach scale, this data can be extremely powerful to be used to actually then build out your credit your risk criteria. Having said that, I don't think the regulations are there yet and they're still building out to allow that to happen for banks.

Okay. So, we've been asked to sort of ask you what you are betting on, right? Uh for in the in the near future. So, what in in couple of words, what are you betting on in 2026? the acceleration of tokenized assets.

Elaborate.

That's a big bet for us. It's it's really about with any new technology, you start with divergence. This is better than everything else. Everything else doesn't make sense. Over time, it becomes convergence.

I do think when you think about traditional capital markets, you think about global derivative. That's a $715 trillion asset class, global fixed income, $140 trillion asset class. The infrastructure that's been built in these markets is been there for decades. So, you can't just unwind, lift, and shift and go digital, right? You need a bridge.

And that's really where Luca comes in is providing that digital bridge and orchestration across systems, data, and blockchain. And that's a big bet for us in 2026.

Carrick, what are you betting on? I mean for us uh you know we are trading platform when I started in trading we were going from phone dealing uh to then having an app and now the next frontier what what will be next uh on on how people will want to get exposure to the markets right so uh you have AI as as a boom and we're all used to using chachbt and different LLMs I think it will have a major impact on how people will interact uh with leading financial institutions ions in the future to to make their decisions and make better financial decisions going forward. So we we are very excited to be at the forefront of this and um that's that's where we're doubling down on.

So you're betting on technology to enhance the user experience making it uh easier and better for your customers to trade.

Sure.

Yes.

And Marine, what are you betting on next year? Um, so what's super interesting with Revolute is we have a whole section called Ubex and you know we try out a whole lot of things and some will fail but some succeed and I absolutely love this area when especially when we get together and the brainstorm happens but um aside that that's on a global level aside that on a personal level and being the GCC co I'm betting on the region um to actually welcome us and to to um to really grow I think I think the Middle East hopefully anyway uh will be a big growth lever um for Revolute. A second point to me is we've talked a lot about tokenization and and consumer behavior change. I think one area that we haven't really kind of dug into which I believe as well is one of the basics or inputs into changing customer behavior in financial services is customer education. So education sounds fluffy but I think with education the whole ecosystem grows but also you you start getting really sophisticated customers from a tokenization perspective from Bitcoin crypto and um trading online I don't think anybody has cracked education yet um but and I to me any company who manages to grab that piece where you build so much trust because you're educating the customer whether you want to use AI whether you want it on a personal level but building that trust.

So my background is financial education, right? So if you build that trust through education, I think you can you can get a very long way with a very loyal customer base.

So increase stickiness with the customers. Now is that education done through a sleek marketing campaign or is it going to be done through a app that is trustworthy and or easy to use? I think there are different ways you can do this but to me education is carrying it over the life cycle of the customer right from the beginning from the age of even a younger 16 17 we've got a product called the youth which is under 18 I think it starts really early I think education doesn't start at the age of 40 it starts at the age of 15 14 15 because there are patterns of financial behavior that comes all the way from childhood right there's a concept called money trauma

which is how you were dealt with in money between the age of 0 and 10 or 12

is how you see money when you grow up. You know there are people who being rich they're ashamed of it because it's not the right thing to do. There are other people money is a sign of status. It all comes from a very young age that behavior and I think once you hit that behavior and you educate customers in terms of the future and what the behavior should be like I think you can create you can create that stickiness how you do it it can be done through AI could be done through an app that's something needs to be worked on.

Thank you. Now, in the remaining time that we have, I'd like to ask you if you were to restart your startups, right? Start from the beginning and do things all over again tomorrow, how would you do things differently? I'm going to start with you, TK, because you've been doing this for for a while. Yeah, I think uh the opportunity that now everyone has and financial services and and people that have access to millions of customers and a lot of data is to use that data uh for good and to to bring it to the forefront in front of the customer's eyes and help them uh make better decisions.

So if I were to start again and I had this similar kind of scale that we have now um I would certainly try and accelerate that process and getting uh the right kind of data at the right time in front of the customers.

All right. Fantastic. Okay. Thank you very much for your insights into this. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in thanking our panel of our speakers.