NBAD’s annual event attracts decision makers, investors and thought leaders
Abu Dhabi (February 15, 2014) – The seventh Global Financial Markets Forum (GFMF), the annual conference organised by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), will discuss major challenges and opportunities in today’s world economy from the perspectives of regulators, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds (SWF), bankers and politicians.
H.E. Nasser Ahmed Alsowaidi, the Chairman of Abu Dhabi Department of Energy and Chairman of NBAD, will inaugurate the 2015 GFMF with opening address on Sunday, March 1st, 2015. The conference, which is expected to draw more than 1,300 attendees, continues through March 2nd.
The first day of 2015 GFMF also features keynote speeches by H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al-Nahayan, the UAE Minister of Culture, Youth, and Social Development; General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret), who served as National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State of the USA. H.E. Ahmed Al Sayegh, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Global Market will deliver key note speech tilted “Abu Dhabi’s role in Global Financial Markets” and H.E. Husain Al Nowais, Chairman of The General Holding Corporation (Senaat) will offer his views about “Industrialisation in the UAE”.
“NBAD’s Global Financial Markets Forum has earned its prestige as one of the most coveted gatherings of the world’s influential thinkers and decision-makers; and we continue on to build on our achievement in each successive years,” says Mahmood Al Aradi, the Co-Head of Global Wholesale Banking, Senior Managing Director & Head of Global Markets at NBAD.
Following the success of GFMF in Abu Dhabi in previous years, NBAD organised panel discussion series in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the future of energy; London, the UK on the future of Sukuk. The next series event will be held in Mumbai, India in June 2015.
Global Financial Markets series aim to extend the highly acclaimed annual GFMF to an ongoing global discussion in key markets around the world and they focus on NBAD’s five key industry sectors: financial institutions, energy, aviation and transportation, real estate and family conglomerates, and retailers.
The 1st day of 2015 GFMF in Abu Dhabi will include panel discussions on “Vision Abu Dhabi 2030”, “Energy”, “the role of Asia within the West-East Corridor”, “Future of philanthropy and its importance to socio-economic development”. List of speakers and panelists in the first day include Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, Deputy Group CEO of Mubadala Development Company; Mark Schwartz – Vice Chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific; Nizar M. Al-Adsani, Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation , Ashish J. Thakkar, Founder of Mara Group & Mara Foundation, Dr. Vikram Mansharamani, Lecturer at Yale University and Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School,;; Monique Villa – CEO of Thomson Reuters Foundation and Founder of TrustLaw and Trust Women; and Clare Woodcraft-Scott, CEO of Emirates Foundation.
Alex Thursby, NBAD’s Group CEO, will deliver opening address on the second day of the conference on March 2nd, 2015.
The 2nd day of 2015 GFMF day will feature a conversation with Mohamed A. El-Erian, the Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, the corporate parent of PIMCO where he formerly served as chief executive and co-chief investment officer. El-Erian, who chairs President Obama’s Global Development Council, is a columnist for Bloomberg View and a contributing editor at the Financial Times.
It also include panel discussions on “The regulators’ perspective “, “Sovereign Wealth Funds’ view on the world today”, “aviation”, “financing trends in a challenging environment”, and “global asset manager and allocators” comprising of global asset managers, investors, bankers, decision makers and thought leaders; H.E. Mubarak Al Mansoori, Governor of the Central Bank of UAE, Sir Paul Tucker, Former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Cutis, Chief Investment Officer- Special Situations at Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC); Osama Alayoub President and CEO of Kuwait Investment Office; Uche Orji, MD and CEO of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority; Marc Allen , President, Boeing International; Pierre Gramegna – Minister of Finance, Luxembourg; Hong Kyttack, Chairman of the Korea Development Bank Didiet Valet, Head of Global Banking & Investor Solutions, Societe Generale; Huang Hong – Deputy CEO, Bank of China (Hong Kong); Mark Blyth – Eastman Professor of Political Economy at the Watson Institute for International Studies and Brown University; Jean-Paul Villain, Head of Strategy at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA); and Sheila Patel – CEO, International for Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
“The impressive array of thought-leaders and influential people who contribute to the dialogue about world economics ensures that this year’s Global Financial Markets Forum will be another successful event,” says Mr. Al Aradi.
He adds: “GFMF’s success reflects the continued rising influence of the UAE in the global economy and solidifies Abu Dhabi as a global financial hub.”
For further info on GFMF, please visit http://www.gfmf-nbad.com