The Summit, organised by the Financial Times and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), will bring together some of the biggest names in international finance to discuss the unprecedented challenges facing the world’s established and emerging financial hubs.

Featured speakers include:

• H.E. Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor, Dubai International Financial Centre
• Charles Prince, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Citi
• Dr. Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University
• Long Yongtu, Secretary General, Boao Forum for Asia, China
• Martin Wolf, CBE, Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times
• Ronald Arculli, Chairman, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd
• Henry Azzam, Chief Executive Officer for Middle East and North Africa, Deutsche Bank
• John P. Davidson III, Managing Director and Chief Corporate Development Officer, CME Group
• David Eldon, Chairman, Dubai International Financial Centre Authority
• Takatoshi Ito, Member, Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, Japan
• Per Larsson, Chief Executive Officer, Borse Dubai
• Dr Gerard Lyons, Chief Economist and Group Head of Global Research, Standard Chartered Bank
• Hajir Naghdy, Executive Director, Investment Banking Group, Macquarie Bank
• R. Ravimohan, Managing Director and Region Head, South Asia, Standard & Poor’s
• Charles Roxburgh, Director, McKinsey & Company
• Ajay Shah, Senior Fellow, National Institute for Public Finance and Policy, India
• Warwick Smith, Chairman, State of New South Wales, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
• Koutaro Tamura, Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Japan Cabinet Office
• Gillian Tett, Capital Markets Editor, Financial Times
• Yusli Mohamed Yusoff, Chief Executive Officer, Bursa Malaysia

John Ridding, Chief Executive of the Financial Times, said the Summit comes at a very significant time, with regulators and investors having to come to terms with unstable credit markets and the spread of complex financial instruments.

“This milestone event is a major opportunity to examine and debate the key issues facing financial centres today as exchanges compete to attract capital and emerging hubs seek to defend themselves and profit from the increased market consolidation,” he said.

His Excellency Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor of DIFC, said: “Financial centres around the globe are changing in response to an increasingly globalised world. Dubai, as the newest and fastest-growing of the major international financial centres, is well-placed to capitalise on its position as a centre of innovation, technology and regional expertise.

“The Middle East, through regional investment funds – either government-controlled or private - are engaged in headline-making acquisitions in all key markets. This new environment demands that they address a number of issues, under demanding and unforgiving market pressures.

“The FT/DIFC World Financial Centres Summit is the flagship event for DIFCweek, which will cover the issues faced through a week of headline conferences, lectures and seminars.”

Themes for discussion at the Summit will include:
• World financial centres – who survives, who thrives?
• The regulatory conundrum -- how much is enough?
• The investment banks -- how are they reacting?
• Private equity and hedge funds – the impact of alternative financing
• The credit crisis – how will it affect regulation and risk assessment?
• Emerging financial centres – the need for knowledge economies
• Dubai’s progress as a major financial centre -- the challenges ahead

The event – to be held at DIFC in central Dubai -- will be the first of three annual FT/DIFC World Financial Centre Summits. The second Summit will take place in London in 2008. The venue for the third has yet to be announced.

The 2007 Summit in Dubai will be the cornerstone event of DIFCweek (Nov 17-23), and underlines the progress made by the DIFC, backed by its financial services authority and fully regulated capital market, towards its goal of becoming a global financial hub on a par with New York, London and Hong Kong.

Registration for the FT/DIFC World Financial Centres Summit is now open on the event website -- www.ftconferences.com/wfcs2007 -- or at www.difcweek.ae.