Abu Dhabi Rises as a Global Financial Hub Amid ETF Trading Surge on ADX

The geopolitical spotlight remains on the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran and the UAE continues to cement its status as a global financial fortress.

Now despite the regional chaos, capital is pouring into Abu Dhabi and in March alone the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange saw a staggering 183% spike in ETF trading value.

Now to meet this demand, Crane shares is now cross listing two major ETFs from the New York Stock Exchange onto the ADX and the AGIX Fund.

Offer Middle Eastern investors direct exposure to AI including private shares of SpaceX and anthropic and the fund will deliver a compliant alternative income strategy.

Well joining us here at the New York Stock Exchange to discuss these new offerings and why the USA remains an economic powerhouse is James Maund, Head of Capital Markets at KraneShares.

James, welcome.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you.

I'm very happy to be here.

Well, every day we do continue to monitor headlines coming out from the.

But in terms of the landscape, in terms of investing in the UAE, tell us what's happening.

So the UAE is really becoming a global hub for finance, and we're seeing that in a number of ways.

Most relevant for us has been the Abu Dhabi's listing of a few of our more successful US ETFs, which allows us to bring the global liquidity profile and innovation that we're seeing in the US market to the local region in the UAE.

And I want to ask you about both of those funds, the AGIX, as well as K1.

So here on Wall Street, of course we're awaiting major mega IPOs in 2026, but first tell us how AGIX works.

Sure, AGIX is a public-private combination, so it's a majority public exposures as you'd see.

In most ETFs, but we also have a private sleeve, so we were able to obtain exposure to XAI, now SpaceX, and Anthropic via private allocation.

We are on the cap table for both of those companies, so we have a healthy mix of the two, allowing investors that access for the first time in a US listed ETF.

And moving on to the K1 ETF that offering is an option-based income strategy that adheres to Islamic investment principles here.

So tell us about this fund.

It's it's an innovative income strategy.

We partnered with Capital, which is a leader in the Islamic investing space to bring the strategy to Sharia compliant investor.

For the first time in Sharia financial constructs, traditional cash investments are not available, so having this options-based strategy where we overlay combinations of options on a basket of Sharia compliant large cap US equities provides that unique income opportunity.

In a Sharia compliant way for the first time ever for global investors, and James, while I have you here, the ADX saw a 183% year over year spike in ETF trading last month.

So what's behind this demand?

So the growth in ETF listings on ADX and just the interest in ETFs has really grown at a rapid pace.

It's only in the fourth quarter of Last year that we saw the first US ETF cross listed on ADX, but now we're seeing more listings and more interest from global issuers.

So I'd expect to see that trend continue as phenomenal as those numbers are 180% growth.

The region is growing so rapidly and interest in ETFs specifically has grown so rapidly that that number doesn't come as much of a surprise, to be honest with you.

And finally, James, before I let you go, do you think Abu Dhabi is positioning itself to rival say New York or London when it comes to the premier cross listing destination for global issuers?

I really do.

I was in Abu Dhabi myself in December and it was so impressive to see the level of engagement from exchange.

Regulators, local business leaders, and the global financial community in Abu Dhabi, they've really opened their arms to global investment and global investors, and I think we're going to see this trend continue over the coming years where Abu Dhabi really does become a global financial hub to rival New York, London, Hong Kong.

Well James, it was great having you here.

Thank you so much for joining us today, and I appreciate all of your insights as well as perspective.

Thank you, Remy.

Have a great day.