David Parker, Co Chief Investment Officer at Bahrain EDB
He shares on Bahrain’s surprisingly big role in driving fintech in the Gulf. Bahrain was already a long-established regional financial centre, in areas like Islamic Finance. Because Bahrain didn’t have big oil reserves, there was a push to develop the country’s homegrown fintech ecosystem. Today, Bahrain’s becoming a regional centre in areas like AI and Blockchain. So how can it maintain its leading position as a regional launch pad, despite not having its own critical market mass, in the face of stiff competition from the likes of ADGM and DIFC?
