We are here at day two of the AFCM Annual Conference in Abu Dhabi. Joining me is Marios Kampouridis, Chief Technology and Digital Officer at the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. Marios, thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you for having me. Pleasure to be here.
ADX has set itself apart as a technology-first exchange. Tell us about the focus of technology at the exchange right now.
It is a very exciting time to be leading technology at ADX. We have invested very heavily in our trading, post-trading, clearing, and settlement technology over the past few years. And right now we are in a really great shape to be able to take on the next steps into our future. Hence digital assets and hence tokenisation. We are very excited to enter that journey dynamically.
With the view that all assets will eventually trade on-chain, what initial products are you looking to tokenise in this early stage?
At the moment every product is open to being tokenised. However, first and foremost, we want to set out the foundation so that we can do it with exactly the same governance and controls we already have as a regulated market operator. Before we talk about specific products, we want to be absolutely certain that all the foundation layers are set out properly — so that we can gain the trust of market participants and take the exchange to the next level.
How are you getting investors comfortable with these advances in technology — and what temperature checks are you getting from them at this early stage?
Finance overall has always been at the forefront of new things coming. We welcome change and a challenging day. More importantly, we are in the right place. Abu Dhabi is quite flexible in its regulation — and at the same time quite firm. It gives a market operator like us the opportunity to experiment and put things in perspective from the foundation up. With Abu Dhabi regulation supporting us and the support of institutional investors, I am confident we are going to navigate even the most challenging of times.
What is the temperature check in the room at AFCM?
The temperature check in the room is very much around AI. AI dominates all the conversations — how are you doing AI, how are you adapting AI into market systems. I think we have only touched the surface. Sky is the limit as far as I can see. That is why we at ADX firmly believe we need to set up the foundation first. We always build it, test it, lay the foundation work — and then people come and adapt.
Can you give us any insights into ADX's technology roadmap?
We have already launched a few AI initiatives that are public — you can go onto our website and mobile app and see and experience those. We also have a lot of internal flows that are AI-related, increasing productivity within the organisation. Employees at ADX are actually feeling much more energised about what is coming. We give them the opportunity to focus on the things that matter more rather than the routine and mundane. And from there — sky is the limit.
Thank you so much for sharing these insights.
Thank you for having me.
