Qatar Financial Centre Authority announces senior appointment

Mr Eggleton will be responsible for the overall operations of the QFC Authority and will have line management responsibility for IT services, finance and property.

Mr Eggleton spent almost 30 years with HSBC, in a wide variety of roles and geographic locations. In the Middle East he was HSBC's Regional Operations Manager from 1997-1998, Senior Manager of the branch in Abu Dhabi from 1998-2000, and most recently Head of E Commerce at the Saudi British Bank, an affiliate of HSBC, in Saudi Arabia. Mr Eggleton was also Chief Operating Officer for HSBC in Turkey from 2000-2002.

Mr Eggleton's appointment comes just a few months before the planned move of the QFC into a new building in Doha which will accommodate up to 38 licensed companies.

"We are delighted to welcome Jeff to the QFC Authority," said Stuart Pearce, Chief Executive Officer and Director General of the QFC Authority. "His depth of experience and familiarity with the Middle East region will be essential to us as we continue to grow and develop our operational capabilities. We are now quickly achieving critical mass both in terms of the number of companies licensed or applying for licenses, as well as our staff resources and our systems and service capabilities. He will enable us not only to meet the expectations of our licensees, but to exceed them.

"We expected that our new building would be sufficient for the Centre's first 2 years at least. However, it is now clear from the approaches that we have received that additional premises will be required as early as the first quarter of 2007. Again, Jeff's experience in managing this rapid expansion will be vital to the continued success of the QFC."