DUBAI, 25 September 2007 — Charles Prince, Lawrence Summers, Long Yongtu and Martin Wolf are among the leading figures confirmed as speakers for the inaugural FT/DIFC World Financial Centers Summit here on Nov. 19-20, 2007.
The summit, organized by the Financial Times and the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), will bring together some of the biggest names in international finance to discuss the unprecedented challenges facing the world’s established and emerging financial hubs, the DIFC statement said yesterday.
The event, to be held at DIFC, will be the first of three annual FT/DIFC World Financial Center Summits. The second summit will take place in London in 2008.
The venue for the third has yet to be announced.
The 2007 summit in Dubai will be the cornerstone event of DIFC Week (Nov. 17-23), and underlines the progress made by the DIFC, backed by its financial services authority and fully regulated capital market, toward its goal of becoming a global financial hub on a par with New York, London and Hong Kong, the statement added.
John Ridding, chief executive of the Financial Times, said the summit comes at a very significant time, with regulators and investors having to come to terms with unstable credit markets and the spread of complex financial instruments.
“This milestone event is a major opportunity to examine and debate the key issues facing financial centers today as exchanges compete to attract capital and emerging hubs seek to defend themselves and profit from the increased market consolidation,” he said.
Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman, governor of DIFC, said: “Financial centers around the globe are changing in response to an increasingly globalized world. Dubai, as the newest and fastest growing of the major international financial centers, is well placed to capitalize on its position as a center of innovation, technology and regional expertise.
“The Middle East, through regional investment funds — either government-controlled or private — are engaged in headline-making acquisitions in all key markets. This new environment demands that they address a number of issues, under demanding and unforgiving market pressures,” he said.
Themes for discussion at the summit will include “World financial centers — who survives, who thrives?”, “The regulatory conundrum — how much is enough?” and “The credit crisis — how will it affect regulation and risk assessment?”, among others.