AI, stablecoins and tokenisation reshape financial services as banking leaders meet in Dubai
Opening the summit, Ted Kemp, Khaleej Times’ Chief Content Officer, said BIT was designed to bring together the people making decisions about the future of finance and create a space where industry leaders could openly debate the changes facing the sector.
“BIT brings the people who are actually deciding that into one room and lets them disagree with each other in public for a change,” Kemp said.
This year’s summit is centred on the theme of “reimagining financial services in a new global order”, with discussions spanning capital, currency and the growing role of AI in driving financial growth.
Look: Attendees gather as BIT summit kicks off
Banking Innovation & Technology Summit 2026 kicks off
The fifth edition of the Banking Innovation & Technology Summit 2026 (BIT’26) begins today in Dubai, UAE, bringing together top public- and private-sector industry executives to discuss opportunities and challenges facing the sector.
Artificial intelligence, digital payments, remittances and customer trust will take centre stage as banking, fintech and technology leaders gather in Dubai for the one-day flagship conference, hosted by the UAE’s first English-language daily, Khaleej Times.
The summit, presented by Airpay, comes as banks across the region accelerate their digital transformation, with AI, data, payments and embedded finance increasingly becoming central to their growth strategies.
One of the key discussions will focus on the growing role of AI in payments and the implications of transactions initiated by AI agents rather than humans.
Payments will also feature prominently in a fireside chat titled ‘Outrun Disruption: A Payments CEO’s Unfiltered Account’. Cross-border payments and remittances will form another major theme.
Some of the industry’s top executives addressing the summit include Deepak Mehra, chief economist at Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD); Nandan Mer, CEO of Dgpays; Adeeb Ahamed, managing director of LuLu Financial Holdings; Roberto Mancone, CEO of duPay; Omair Ansari, CEO and co-founder of ABHI; Rajeev Garg, head of wealth at Citi UAE; Azamat Seitbekov, founder and CEO of Yusr; and other senior executives from Arthur D. Little.
Source: Khaleej Times
