Dubai banking summit puts stablecoins and access to credit in focus

Stablecoins settling real transactions, rather than sitting in technology trials, are among the developments taking centre stage at a Dubai gathering of more than 300 senior banking, fintech and financial services leaders. According to Khaleej Times, the Banking Innovation & Technology Summit (BIT) 2026 is examining how those changes could reshape the way money moves and who can access financial services.

Opening the event, Ted Kemp, chief content officer at Khaleej Times, described the summit as a forum for people making decisions about finance’s future. The aim, he said, was to put those leaders together and allow them to debate their differences openly. The gathering is presented by Airpay and centres on financial services in a changing global order.

Kemp said the summit brings financial decision-makers together so they can debate their differences in public.

Following money across borders and into wallets

The opening discussions focus on capital and currency. Kemp said delegates would examine where global capital is heading across markets and financial corridors—the routes through which money moves between economies. That puts the destination of investment alongside the mechanics of moving funds at the heart of the summit’s agenda.

The discussion also reaches beyond large financial flows to the everyday use of money. Kemp pointed to mobile wallets, which let people hold and move money digitally, and technology’s role in opening access to credit. For people previously underserved by financial providers, the issue is not simply a new way to pay, but whether borrowing becomes available at all.

That question sits within a wider challenge identified in the source report: financial institutions face growing pressure to reconsider traditional banking and payment models. At the same time, fintech—technology used to deliver financial services—and digital platforms are changing how consumers and businesses obtain and transfer money. The summit brings those institutional and customer-facing changes into the same discussion.

Digital currencies move beyond trials

The agenda then turns to changes in currency itself. Kemp highlighted stablecoins, digital currencies designed to maintain a stable value, being used to settle actual transactions. His remarks framed the subject around practical use rather than experimentation, directing attention to the role these instruments can play in completing payments.

Asset tokenisation is another focus. This means representing assets through digital tokens, a process the summit will examine alongside new forms of currency. Kemp described the discussion as extending to assets that previously remained static. The report places this topic within the broader examination of digital assets and blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

Artificial intelligence also runs through the programme, with discussions considering its growing role in financial growth. Together, the topics reflect a shift towards assessing these technologies as possible tools for changing how finance operates, rather than treating them only as emerging innovations.

The next discussions to watch are how delegates connect those technologies with real financial activity: capital crossing markets, payments reaching recipients and credit reaching people previously left out. Those are the practical questions set out for a summit focused on what comes after the trial stage.