QFC, a new year brings a new appointment

Rajat Gupta, the Senior Partner and former MD of consultancy firm McKinsey and Company as well as the United Nations Secretary General's special advisor for management reform, became a Non-Executive Director of the QFC Authority on January 1. He joins a venerable and diverse list of senior executives and financial experts, including Chris Gibson-Smith, the Chairman of the London Stock Exchange, and Yousef Kamal, Qatar's Minister of Finance and the Chairman of the Doha Securities Market.

Gupta's experience in the US and India, an increasingly key business partner with GCC countries and where he was born, will hopefully help strengthen the QFC's exposure and strategy in those markets. His time with McKinsey will also boost the centre's efforts to attract more firms involved in non-regulated activities such as consultancy, legal services and accounting.

Pulling in big players

But since September 2005, when the QFC launched its marketing campaign, a sizeable number of major financial institutions have applied for operating licences. In the second half of 2006 alone, Barclays Bank, the third biggest British bank, received approval to carry out regulated activities, while, shortly afterwards, Morgan Stanley, one of the world's largest investment banks, received its licence. Later on in the year, the leading Swiss private bank, Union Bancaire Privee, and global insurer, AXA Insurance, also gained authorisation.

But the QFC has also secured businesses operating away from the financial services sector with InterSearch, a recruitment consultancy with offices right across the Gulf, and International Legal Consultants, a law firm which is also registered at the Dubai International Financial Centre, gaining approval only last November.

Rules and regulations

One of the main features of the Qatar Financial Centre is its detailed regulatory framework, which provides the sort of stability and security expected in a leading financial market. The QFC Regulatory Authority has gradually drawn up a wide-ranging set of laws but it is still looking to enhance these and just last month it released a consultation paper and accompanying draft rules on the regulation of collective investment funds operating in or from the Qatar Financial Centre.

The move comes after the Regulatory Authority received interest from fund managers wishing to register and operate collective investment funds in the QFC. The centre is looking to establish a high standard of legislation and a separate regime for retail funds is also being drawn up.

The QFC has modelled not only its entire regulatory framework but its wider principle objectives on the basis of international best practices as it sees integrity and transparency as the backbone of a well-respected, and ultimately successful, business centre. With this in mind, the QFCRA appointed Richard Collins, the former Group Compliance Director at the Lloyds TSB Group, as its new Managing Director, Authorisation in mid November.

Phillip Thorpe, the Regulatory Authority's Chairman and CEO, believes the replication of the methodology found in global financial centres is the best way to attract banks and financial institutions looking to set up a base in the Middle East. With a strategic board room level appointment already sewn up in early January, the QFC is keen to build on the progress made in 2006.