Emiratis and UAE-based firms made their stamp on a host of new Forbes Middle East rankings out over the past week. Here’s the rundown.

Six UAE-based executives made it to Forbes Middle East’s Top 40 AssetManagers regional list. The complete list included executives who managed assets exceeding USD 439 bn last year, including local and international equity and debt funds, discretionary portfolios, real estate investments, REITS, and private equity.

Here are the UAE leaders who made the cut:

  • CEO of Mashreq Capital Philip Philippides (LinkedIn);
  • CEO of Rasmala Investment Holdings Zak Hydari (LinkedIn);
  • Senior Executive Officer of ADCB Asset Management Gavin Rankin (LinkedIn);
  • Managing Director of Waha Capital Mohamed Hussain Al Nowais (LinkedIn);
  • Senior Executive Officer of ASB Capital Hichem Djouhri (LinkedIn);
  • Senior Executive Officer of Emirates NBD Asset Management Michail Samawi (LinkedIn).

The UAE emerged as the most represented country in Forbes Middle East’sFintech 50 list for 2025, with 13 companies securing spots among the region’s leading fintech firms. New Emirati entrants included Ziina, making its debut at #37. The highest-ranking UAE-based companies were Wio Bank (#4) and e& money (#9).

Seven Emirati banks secured spots in Forbes Middle East’s 30 Most ValuableBanks 2025 list, with a combined market value of USD 153.4 bn — second only to Saudi Arabia, which led with 10 entries totaling USD 269 bn.

The UAE’s largest bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, ranked third with a market value of USD 43.7 bn. Other UAE banks on the list include Emirates NBD (#6), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (#8), Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (#12), Dubai Islamic Bank (#13), our friends at Mashreq at #17, and Commercial Bank of Dubai (#20).

ALSO WORTH NOTING-

  • Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (Rakez) was presented with the fastest-growing economic zone in the UAE award at the Annual Asian Arab Awards 2025. (Statement)
  • Tarjama’s Arabic large language model Pronoia outclassed DeepSeek and GPT-4o in Arabic-related tasks such as translation, rephrasing, and summarization. It also outperformed the other engines in terms of efficiency, processing speed, and low latency. (Statement)
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