Architects Of Trust: H.E. Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi

Before capital crosses a border, someone has to ex amine what will protect it once it arrives. Which rules govern the investment? Who supervises the business?

Where can a disagreement be heard? For Abu Dhabi’s international financial centre, ADGM, those questions sit at the heart of its proposition to the world.

Its Chairman, H.E. Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, also chairs the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development. His background includes serving as Group Chief Financial Officer of ADNOC and leadership roles spanning invest ment, restructuring and corporate governance. Those responsibilities connect the development of a financial centre with the wider task of building an economy in which international businesses choose to operate.

ADGM’s legal architecture gives that proposition sub stance. Its framework directly applies English common law, including equitable principles, subject to ADGM leg islation. For businesses accustomed to common-law arrangements, that provides a familiar basis for struc turing commercial relationships. Independent ADGM Courts provide the forum in which rights and obligations can be examined when those relationships come under strain.

The institutional responsibilities extend beyond the courtroom. The Financial Services Regulatory Authority oversees financial services within the jurisdiction, while the Registration Authority handles registration, licens ing and relevant commercial oversight. These functions address different stages of a business’s life: establish ing its presence, meeting the requirements of its activi ties and remaining accountable as it operates.

For an entrepreneur, that distinction has practical con sequences. Incorporation opens the door, but operating a financial business requires attention to the permis sions and obligations attached to its work. For an inves tor, the questions extend to the quality of supervision and the remedies available when expectations are not met. The value of a jurisdiction emerges through how these arrangements function together.

ADGM’s expansion has brought that framework to a larger business community. In its 2025 results, the cen tre reported 12,671 active licenses and a 36% annual increase in assets under management. Those figures describe different measures of activity: the licenses across the jurisdiction and the assets managed within it. Together, they indicate the scale of the institutional responsibility accompanying growth.

For Al Zaabi, the chairmanship places him at the inter section of that responsibility and Abu Dhabi’s economic ambitions. Attracting businesses is one part of the task. Sustaining their confidence requires rules that can be understood, supervision that carries weight and institu tions capable of handling disagreement. ADGM’s place in the region’s growth story rests on what happens af ter the investment announcement, when commitments have to work in practice.