Qatar set to launch financial centre
Posted: Saturday, April 30, 2005

Doha

Qatar will launch its new financial and business centre tomorrow. The centre will target commercial banks, investment houses, financial service providers and multinational companies, a report said.

The Qatar Financial Centre will provide special legal and regulatory conditions for companies establishing themselves in Qatar, and will be similar to regional financial and business centres already flourishing in Bahrain and Dubai, a Gulf News report said.

The new centre will be operated by a three-tier authority comprising the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA), the Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) and an arbitration body, it said quoting Shaikh Mohammad bin Ahmad Al Thani, Minister of Economy and Commerce.

He said Qatar's current economic growth provides the right kind of environment for the QFC to deal with project finance, bond issuance, insurance, reinsurance, asset management, private banking and general business support services.

big news tomorrow

a new big project to be launched

has any of you locals ever heard about plans of a financial centre?

Welcome on board,

Competition is getting HOTT !!

Well, the aims of the QFC are different than both Bahrain and DIFC, it'll focus mostly on facilitating things for the energy sector:


The new Qatar Finance Centre, offering a special legal environment and regulatory zone for financial institutions is to launch on May 1. How will it measure up to the existing regional financial hub in Bahrain, and its upcoming rival the Dubai International Financial Centre?

A few eyebrows were raised in London and Dubai in March when the Qatar Finance Centre appointed Phillip Thorpe as its chief regulator. After all it was less that 12 months ago that Mr. Thorpe was escorted from the premises of the Dubai International Financial Centre following policy disagreements and an obvious personality clash.

But this New Zealand born professional has an outstanding track record as a regulator, and it should not be such a surprise to find that another of the booming Gulf economies has employed him. But the QFC will not be a copy of the DIFC.

Insiders say that the QFC will be built around the need to service the enormous financial demands of the expansion of the Qatar LNG and oil sectors. There will be 100% ownership and repatriation of profits for QFC companies, and a three-year tax holiday after which a low rate will apply.

This is expected to appeal to commercial banking, project finance and asset managers as well as multi-nationals. But unlike the DIFC and Bahrain, Islamic banking and large back-office operations are not a priority. The focus is more on boutique specialists servicing the local economy, albeit the richest and fastest growing economy in the Gulf of Arabia.

Mr. Thorpe is at the apex of a three-tier authority structure comprising the Qatar Financial Regulatory Authority, the Qatar Financial Centre Authority and an arbitration body.

At the announcement of the launch last week an official spokesman said that where QFC laws and local business laws conflict then the QFC law will prevail. But transactions between non-QFC companies in Qatar and QFC companies will be subject to Qatari business law. It will be interesting to see how this works in practice.


QFC realistic ambition
However, Qatar is being very realistic in its QFC ambitions. The aim does not seem to be to create a massive base for offshore financial professionals like the DIFC, or to provide a regional hub for Sharia-compliant banking like Bahrain.

The QFC is simple a strongly regulated environment for boutique financial services. Its arrival is welcomed by the banking sector, but it should be seen more as a further boost to the operational efficiency of the Qatari economy than an attempt to create a major new revenue source for Qatar.

Oil and gas are quite sufficient, and upgrading the financial infrastructure to handle this development and wealth makes good sense.

so, it seems like there won't be any towers

which is a bit strange

when cities develop a new financial centre it comprises several towers

instead they build many commercial towers in the west bay area, maybe a part of the west bay will be the new financial centre?

Don't think so, they said it won't be a huge projec like Bahrain and Dubai, so don't expect much of the same projec style. It's there for different reasons and they don't really need such a huge development.

Hehe BS,

And when you have FI's that eact from your cake aint this a competition?

Taking loan business from point B to point Q is competition !!

This thing is totally different from the financial centers based in Bahrain and Qatar. Its not meant to be a regional HQ for financial institutes but rather a base for which regional and international compaines can come in and set base to operate within qatar only. Its goeal, as BS had mentioned is to better manage the influx of capital in qatar and provide very much needed world-class financial services to local businesses and international compaines setting up in doha.

The ppl behind it made it clear that this project would not involve any glitz and glamour towers. Another thing, this wont be a tax-free thing, they would be taxed just like any other business in qatar.

for more details... www.qfc.com.qa

are u sure Qatar4ever because from what i've seen so far it is like a compatition. Six managers have already moved from DIFC to Qatar Financial Center so far including the new CEO of Qatar Financial Center.

check this site.
http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AD3B6ABA-CB4F-434A-B0DA-1EE25C938412.htm

I dont know about six, however I know the CEO of Dubai's financial center moved to doha. All Im hearing and reading is that the core business of this institution is qatar with financial solutions such as insurance, banking, islamic financing.. etc. Whereas the dubai and bahrain financial centers are more geared to house international institutions to set base or regional offices.

أعلن مسؤولون في دبي استقالة خمسة من المنظمين العاملين بمركز دبي المالي الجديد للانضمام إلى مركز منافس في قطر.

وتأتي هذه الاستقالات المعلنة أمس عقب أقل من شهرين من تعيين مركز قطر المالي الرئيس السابق لسلطة دبي للخدمات المالية فيليب ثورب رئيسا للهيئة التنظيمية للمركز.

وعزل ثورب من منصبه بدبي في يونيو/ حزيران من عام 2004 حيث أرجعت مصادر مالية ذلك إلى خلافات بشأن مسألة الشفافية والإفصاح في قطاع الشركات.

وعلى الرغم من تأكيد سلطة دبي للخدمات المالية استقالة المسؤولين الخمسة وانضمامهم إلى مركز قطر فقد استبعد القائم بأعمال الرئيس التنفيذي لسلطة دبي ديفد كينغ تأثير الاستقالات بدرجة كبيرة على السلطة أو مركز دبي المالي العالمي الذي يتولى كينغ الإشراف عليه.

وأوضح كينغ أن من الطبيعي بعد اكتمال جانب كبير من الأعمال التحضيرية لسلطة دبي أن يرغب بعض العاملين في الانتقال لمركز آخر في مرحلة مبكرة من التطور.

وقال متحدث باسم مركز قطر إن العمل جار بنشاط بهدف توظيف فريق يضم 20 منظما يستكمل في نهاية العام الحالي.

ويرى محللون أن الجانب التنظيمي قد ظهر كمجال للمنافسة مهم بين المراكز المتنافسة في إطار سعيها لجذب المؤسسات المالية العالمية.

وتتنافس المنامة ودبي والدوحة لكي تكون المركز المالي في الخليج بينما تمثل المنامة المركز المالي في المنطقة منذ السبعينات.


This is where it mentioned. Anyway u might be right I dont have a solid knowlege about the difference between those.

Yeah I red the article. It does say that all three financial centers are going to compete. But Id rather not use this article since its very general, whereas the website has a lot better information. Even though the website says that the centers business is intended for the whole gulf, but it gives greater weight for what goes on in the boardes of qatar.

I really think it would be stupid for all three countries to be competeing on the same piece of pie. It would be much more wiser for qatar to downsizes the operations of this center and concentrate on running the financies of the state of qatar.

I agree with you, a smaller scale for time being would be better, untill we see what happens with new entrats in the way!

and I dont think it will be Solely be focused on Gas projects only, they mentioned more than that in the press , i read it today, it has a wide focus.

well not only on gas, but the gas/energy industry has more than 40+ billion dollars being injected into it. So the bulk of the effert will go there.

Yeah, correctous!