Abu Dhabi is cementing its position as a global hub for capital, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Joining us today is Michael Gale, Group CEO of Al Liwan Group, to discuss the emirate's rise as the capital of capital, the sectors in the GCC that global investors may be overlooking, and how cross-border partnerships could shape the region's next phase of growth. Michael, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Rachel. A great pleasure to be here.
You have described Abu Dhabi as the capital of capital. What is Al Liwan Group's role in that evolution?
What we are building at Al Liwan is the first home-grown regional investment bank. When I say investment bank, I mean a combination of a large multi-family office and an asset manager — it is not the next Goldman or the next HSBC. It is tailored for this region. We want to be the glue between the countries in the region and the people who get deals done, but acting differently from the foreign investment banks that have branches here or the local commercial banks that do investment banking on the side. We are building from the ground up — the right investment bank for this time, this region, and the way the world is evolving.
From your vantage point here, what is Abu Dhabi getting right and where does it still need to evolve?
The strategy has been fantastic. But to be fair, we have also been a bit lucky — we built it and they came. Abu Dhabi has done the same thing with the financial market that Dubai did with everything else. But we are now a victim of our own success. ADGM is a world-class set of opportunities, but it was built as an offshore centre. And the truth is, many of the companies that came here came because of Abu Dhabi's own capital — the sovereign wealth, the liquidity in the commercial banking system. For Abu Dhabi to become a truly standalone financial capital, we need to do a much better job of bridging the onshore and the offshore. How do you get financial products built in Europe and America sold here? How do you wrap them? Do you turn bonds into sukuk? Do you put an ADX wrap around securities and list them here? That is where we come in. When people ask me what our main lines of business are, I say: what are all the things that are missing? We fill in all the pieces. We are the epoxy that goes in all the gaps — not glamorous, but it works.
How does your knowledge of the local market differentiate you from international firms that have moved here?
We started as a multi-family office working with Emirati families here. As we took assets and tried to optimise businesses, properties, and regional assets, we kept asking: who do we go to for this transaction? Who can help with this M&A, help build a book, help restructure equity or finance? We found the gaps. We are not a branch office in the offshore — we are offshore and onshore. We have a licensed onshore presence, including a brokerage firm onshore. We see the UAE and the region as one whole. And our clients are exclusively local — we are here to serve Emirati families, not to raise international capital.
Where are you seeing the most investment interest from your clients right now?
Clients in the region are still fairly conservative. But what we are pushing is that we are sitting in a region that is starting to be good at manufacturing — not just consuming, importing, and investing. And there is a market right next to us called Africa, with a billion people, mostly young, where all the world's growth is. The GCC is uniquely positioned because we have the ability to deploy capital, we have stable government, very good rule of law — all the things that are difficult in Africa but that are needed to build there. Leveraging the experience that built this incredible region and deploying it into Africa seems like the obvious opportunity. And practically — they are in our time zone.
That is always helpful.
Practical things matter.
Thank you so much, Michael. I would love to have you back to discuss your progress on Africa and everything else you are building.
Thank you. It is lovely to be here, Rachel.
