The Swiss Finance + Technology Association (SFTA) and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) have signed an agreement to support fintech companies in the UAE and Switzerland, enabling them to draw on support from the combined resources of their regulators as they seek to operate in each other’s market.

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This agreement will provide the impetus to connect Swiss and UAE fintech participants and help them stay abreast of innovation in financial services while providing fintech firms seeking to develop and grow their businesses with enhanced channels for communicating with regulators in each other’s region.

The step is also part of the strategy to make Abu Dhabi a centre for the fast growing fintech industry.

In terms of the fintech landscape in the Middle East, the UAE in particular is already showing strong signs of support for fintech, as well as some early success stories.

John Hucker, President of the SFTA, commented: “This connection is expected to benefit entrepreneurs, investors, and companies from both of these two global centres of wealth and finance. We also plan to share knowledge, for example, at the upcoming ADGM FinTech Summit, but also by connecting with a range of relevant public sector partners in Switzerland. In particular, there is clear opportunity for synergies with topics such as crypto finance, wealth management, insurance, and ethical FinTech.”

Richard Teng, CEO of theh ADGM, added: “As global wealth management centres, Switzerland and the UAE have nurtured decades of mutually beneficial and strategic bilateral ties. With Switzerland as one of the world’s leading  Blockchain  Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamper with. The Evolution of BlockchainBlockchain was originally invented by an individual or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The purpose of blockchain was originally to serve as the public transaction ledger of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.In particular, bundles of transaction data, called “blocks”, are added to the ledger in a chronological fashion, forming a “chain.” These blocks include things like date, time, dollar amount, and (in some cases) the public addresses of the sender and the receiver.The computers responsible for upholding a blockchain network are called “nodes.” These nodes carry out the duties necessary to confirm the transactions and add them to the ledger. In exchange for their work, the nodes receive rewards in the form of crypto tokens.By storing data via a peer-to-peer network (P2P), blockchain controls for a wide range of risks that are traditionally inherent with data being held centrally.Of note, P2P blockchain networks lack centralized points of vulnerability. Consequently, hackers cannot exploit these networks via normalized means nor does the network possess a central failure point.In order to hack or alter a blockchain’s ledger, more than half of the nodes must be compromised. Looking ahead, blockchain technology is an area of extensive research across multiple industries, including financial services and payments, among others. Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamper with. The Evolution of BlockchainBlockchain was originally invented by an individual or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The purpose of blockchain was originally to serve as the public transaction ledger of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.In particular, bundles of transaction data, called “blocks”, are added to the ledger in a chronological fashion, forming a “chain.” These blocks include things like date, time, dollar amount, and (in some cases) the public addresses of the sender and the receiver.The computers responsible for upholding a blockchain network are called “nodes.” These nodes carry out the duties necessary to confirm the transactions and add them to the ledger. In exchange for their work, the nodes receive rewards in the form of crypto tokens.By storing data via a peer-to-peer network (P2P), blockchain controls for a wide range of risks that are traditionally inherent with data being held centrally.Of note, P2P blockchain networks lack centralized points of vulnerability. Consequently, hackers cannot exploit these networks via normalized means nor does the network possess a central failure point.In order to hack or alter a blockchain’s ledger, more than half of the nodes must be compromised. Looking ahead, blockchain technology is an area of extensive research across multiple industries, including financial services and payments, among others. Read this Term and crypto-currency centres, this new FinTech  Bridge  Bridge The bridge or liquidity bridge is an essential component for brokers that are enabling their clients to trade at interbank rates directly via a Prime Broker or a Prime-of-Prime (PoP). While market makers do not require a bridge in order to service its clients, brokers which are sending through orders to a liquidity provider or an electronic execution venue need a bridge to connect their trading platform to the interbank market.Bridges are used extensively in forex trading, specifically for Metatrader, the world’s most popular trading platform. Bridges can be connecting a broker to a prime of prime or to a prime broker. Connectivity providers are delivering solutions mostly oriented towards the most popular platforms in the market – MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MT5. The component is another crucial part of proper risk mitigation for the brokerage. The Need for Bridges in Retail TradingGiven the rise of the MT4 and MT5 platforms, there has since arose a need for bridge technology. This is due to the fact that Metaquotes, the company behind MT4, only envisaged their platform being used as a purely an interface client broker trading.This means the broker set the quotes, set the spread, and traded against the client. However, the trader actually had no direct access to the wholesale forex market, yet many brokers were unwilling to let go of MT4 in favor of other platforms which already inherently supported access to the market via Electronic Communications Networks (ECN) due to MT4’s huge popularity and thus potential loss of clients. MetaTrader was not designed to communicate with banks or liquidity providers because Metaquotes didn’t implement the FIX protocol (Financial Information Exchange). The FIX protocol is an electronic communications protocol setup in the early 1990’s to provide worldwide exchange of information in real time with respect to the transactions of financial markets and instruments. As a result, software was developed by third parties to enable MetaTrader to connect traders to the interbank. The bridge or liquidity bridge is an essential component for brokers that are enabling their clients to trade at interbank rates directly via a Prime Broker or a Prime-of-Prime (PoP). While market makers do not require a bridge in order to service its clients, brokers which are sending through orders to a liquidity provider or an electronic execution venue need a bridge to connect their trading platform to the interbank market.Bridges are used extensively in forex trading, specifically for Metatrader, the world’s most popular trading platform. Bridges can be connecting a broker to a prime of prime or to a prime broker. Connectivity providers are delivering solutions mostly oriented towards the most popular platforms in the market – MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MT5. The component is another crucial part of proper risk mitigation for the brokerage. The Need for Bridges in Retail TradingGiven the rise of the MT4 and MT5 platforms, there has since arose a need for bridge technology. This is due to the fact that Metaquotes, the company behind MT4, only envisaged their platform being used as a purely an interface client broker trading.This means the broker set the quotes, set the spread, and traded against the client. However, the trader actually had no direct access to the wholesale forex market, yet many brokers were unwilling to let go of MT4 in favor of other platforms which already inherently supported access to the market via Electronic Communications Networks (ECN) due to MT4’s huge popularity and thus potential loss of clients. MetaTrader was not designed to communicate with banks or liquidity providers because Metaquotes didn’t implement the FIX protocol (Financial Information Exchange). The FIX protocol is an electronic communications protocol setup in the early 1990’s to provide worldwide exchange of information in real time with respect to the transactions of financial markets and instruments. As a result, software was developed by third parties to enable MetaTrader to connect traders to the interbank. Read this Term and partnership dovetail well with Abu Dhabi’s focus as a global FinTech hub. We believe the FinTech startups and business community will greatly benefit from the innovation platforms of our respective jurisdictions, including ADGM’s Regulatory Laboratory programme.”