DOHA: Banking regulator, the Qatar Central Bank (QCB), said yesterday it is busy framing rules to list exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the local bourse.
The rules are being developed in close coordination with the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA), the regulatory body for Qatar Exchange (QE).
The central bank also hinted it plans to enable telecom service providers as well as Qatar Exchange and the Justice Ministry’s Real Estate Registration department to access information from the Credit Bureau.
The Credit Bureau, to recall, is a key QCB arm that was set up a few years ago to assess creditworthiness of customers who apply for bank loans and provide credit worthiness reports on customers to banks.
The QCB said it will launch the second phase of the “Credit Bureau project for communications companies and connect the banking risks system to the justice ministry’s real estate registration department and QE to verify the guarantees provided”.
The regulator is expected to issue commemorative coins to mark the various events in Qatar, especially the FIFA World Cup fixture in 2022, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported yesterday.
The QCB inaugurated few days ago its new strategy for the financial sector in preparation to launch next strategies for the years 2017 and 2023 in order to achieve the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030.
The new strategy includes a detailed programme till the year 2016 that insures unified control policies, strengthens the regulatory system between the banking sector, the financial markets and the insurance sector, provides full protection for all dealers and consumer rights, and enhances the work of the Islamic institutions and resolves disputes between the various parties.
The strategy aims at creating a strong and effective financial regulatory framework that supports the economic prosperity and the financial stability witnessed by the State.
It also aims at establishing a strong infrastructure for the financial services industry, in line with the best international standards and practices. To achieve the new strategy, QCB set up Qatar Credit Bureau, Financial stability and Statistics Department, Risk Management Department, and Qatar Central Securities Depository.
The QCB then listed treasury bills on Qatar Exchange as a first step to list the rest of the public debt securities, bonds and instruments and units of investment funds.
In December 2013, QCB issued government bonds and Islamic sukuk for national banks for a period of three years and five years with a total value of QR4bn. In 2012 - 2013 QCB issued treasury bills for different periods in favour of the Government of Qatar worth QR21bn, and issued QR9.14bn bonds for the Retirement and Pension Authority. Perhaps the most important event for Qatar Central Bank for 2012 - 2013 is the issuance of its new law which represents an important step to regulate the financial and regulatory services, oversight all financial sectors, promote financial stability, and to expand the scope of regulation and supervision to include areas that require financial structuring.
The new law will strengthen cooperation and coordination among regulators and supervisory in Qatar in its work on the development and implementation of the regulatory and supervision policy, and application of the latest international standards and best practices to achieve of the objectives of Qatar Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 2011-2016.
The new law is also an important step for Qatar in the process of building a financial sector that enjoys flexibility and works according to the highest international standards of regulation and supervision.
The QCB also signed four memorandums of understanding with the central banks of Mauritania, Vietnam, China and India, aiming at promoting mutual cooperation.
Meanwhile, it is planning to apply international accounting standards on its accounts, and to issue the financial position on a weekly basis. It is also planning to qualify the accounts of Qatar Central Bank to comply with the requirements of the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS), and electronically prepare the models for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS).
QCB is also working on applying the Wall Street system to manage the bank’s investment portfolio and introducing a new system for the risk management.
The Peninsula
