We have seen the ‘big unicorns’ coming into the region with Amazon’s bid for Souq. com and I think that’s telling us something.

“The pipeline from now to the end of the year is extremely busy. People are genuinely excited at the prospect of doing business in a ‘best in class’ regulatory regime, where we see our mission as problem solvers for member firms,” Teng said.

Of course, the heart of a financial center — like in London or New York — often revolves around a securities trading market. The ADGM does not have an equitytrading platform yet but is in talks with the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the UAE capital’s onshore market, about ways to develop more liquidity in trading in equities and other financial instruments.

There is already an international market in the Gulf region — Nasdaq Dubai — but it has had only limited success in attracting big international stocks onto its board. Might there be an opportunity there for ADGM to open up an international stock market and — potentially — offer Saudi Aramco another place to list its shares in the region?

Teng would definitely not speculate on this but did say: “There is already a first-class exchange in Abu Dhabi. But we are looking to use ADGM as a platform to explore possibilities we have not had in the past. We should not rule anything out.” Make of that what you will.

Overall, he thinks the changes underway in Saudi Arabia can only be good for the region: “We have Saudi employees in ADGM and they are very thoughtful people, very engaging. We want to help them build a good neighborhood, which will bring value back up. It is a bit like having a house in a good neighborhood — the real estate value goes up. We want the same in financial services. We want to support liquidity in the region, and to work more closely together with them as a regulatory regime,” he said.