Christopher Kiew-Smith (Chris) joined the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in July 2017. He is the Head of Fintech Strategy, responsible for the FSRA’s projects and their approach to innovative financial technologies. As part of his remit, Chris focuses on fostering a thriving Fintech ecosystem through initiatives such as the ADGM Regulatory Laboratory (Reglab), the ADGM Digital Sandbox and institutional-focused projects.

Prior to ADGM, Chris was at the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a co-founder of the FCA Regulatory Sandbox, and led the regulator’s policy towards blockchain technologies. In the UK Chris was also a member of the Whitechapel Think Tank, a London based group of industry experts discussing the potential of blockchain solutions in financial markets. He has worked closely with numerous innovative startups and global financial institutions seeking to adopt cutting-edge technologies.

At the FCA, Chris also authored markets policy and regulations for deployment at international and European levels. Prior to this, he worked as a lawyer at Clifford Chance before advising global investment banks as a strategy consultant at Deloitte.