The new year brings a host of exciting new fintech events to attend. While some of these Middle East fintech events are sticking with a fully offline arrangement, some others are continuing the trend of live and virtual hybrid formats.
These events act as a hotspot for networking opportunities, and also create space for insight-driven dialogue on emerging fintech trends across the region by local and global fintech experts.
As the year 2021 closes out, here’s a look at some of the top Middle East fintech events you can attend in the first quarter of the next year.
Middle East fintech events
LEAP 2022
Where: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
When: 01 – 03 February, 2022
LEAP is a global conference for future technologies and technology professionals from across the world. The conference brings together tech corporations, global startups and venture capitalists, including CEO of SoftBank Investment Rajeev Misra, and Former Group Chief Digital Officer at Emirates NBD, Evans Munyuki.
The conference also features focused “orbital” talks, an exclusive Investors Club, and a startup pitch competition.
Epay Summit
Where: Bahrain / Virtual
When: 9 – 10 February, 2022
The 4th edition of the Epay Summit GCC will focus on the role of payments, banking, retail and telecommunications technologies to build a cashless society in the region. The conference also has a Europe edition that takes place in London.
The GCC edition provides a space to network with banks, telecom, online retailers, financial firms, and technology providers, during and after the summit at the live conference and through the Epay mobile app.
Step Conference
Where: Dubai, UAE
When: 23 – 24 February, 2022
Step is a tech festival held in Dubai. The 2022 edition will feature four main tracks, over 400 global startups, hundreds of global investors, and more than 8000 global attendees over two days. The fintech track at the festival will touch upon payments, crypto and ecommerce themes.
More specifically, it brings together banks, payment gateways, processors, fintech startups, regulators and more to fintech, blockchain, digital currencies, payments, lending, and wealth management.
EBINTEC EMEA
Where: Virtual
When: 09 – 10 March, 2022
The EBINTEC Banking Innovation Conference EMEA will take place as a live virtual conference in March next year. The conference focuses on banking innovation technologies and solutions. The 2021 edition of the conference saw nearly 500 attendees from over 25 countries.
The 2022 edition will also feature a virtual exhibition area for demonstrations by sponsoring companies. Some of the themes that the conference will touch upon include open banking, transaction banking, identity management technologies and fraud prevention.
Money 2.0 Conference
Where: Dubai, UAE
When: 18 – 20 March, 2022
The Money 2.0 Conference focuses on financial and investment strategies. It provides a view of emerging financial markets, enterprise risk management strategies, blockchain-based transactions, and fintech and insurance trends. The first leg of the conference will take place in Dubai in March, while a second edition will take place in Las Vegas during April.
The conference is aimed at a wide range of finance and investment professionals, including venture capitalists, fintech entrepreneurs, CFOs, and financial advisors.
World Fintech Summit
Where: Amman, Jordan
When: 23 March, 2022
The World Fintech Summit will bring together over 500 fintech professionals, and speakers from the payments, digital banking, and financial products and services areas. The conference will feature one-to-one networking, as well as sessions on industry topics such as digital-only banking, payment innovations, Platform as a Service (PaaS), buy now pay later (BNPL), and AI.
The conference will also feature some virtual sessions as well as panel discussions and a fintech awards ceremony.
Future Tech
Where: Muscat, Oman / Virtual
When: 28 – 29 March, 2022
Future Tech is a B2B and B2G tech event in Oman. Held last year as Oman’s first virtual expo and summit, the event is returning in a hybrid avatar this year. The event aims to provide a space for multi-stakeholder dialogue and networking opportunities between C-Level executives, industry experts, decision makers, policy makers and government officials.
Apart from the main conference, the event will also feature 1-1 networking opportunities, an exhibition booth, a product showcase and more.
