Several bilateral agreements were signed between Qatar and the UK recently with the most notable being the agreement by the Qatar Central Bank to establish the Qatar Centre for Global Banking & Finance within the King’s Business School at King’s College London.
A membership agreement was signed between the Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and Innovate Finance’s international hub to support the development of the fintech ecosystem in Qatar, as well as an agreement on the approval of the QDB’s membership to the Financial Conduct Authority’s Global Financial Innovation Network to promote Islamic finance and fintech.
The signing ceremonies were held on Qatar Day, hosted by the UK’s Department for International Trade in partnership with the City of London Corporation at the prestigious Mansion House in London on the 26th April. The event aimed at strengthening trade and investment ties between the two countries and supporting Qatar’s development of its financial services sector.
The agreements highlighted the mutual opportunities for businesses across banking, Islamic finance and fintech for UK and Qatari companies. Senior business executives of the two countries and representatives of the two governments shared reports highlighting the UK’s and Qatar’s promising mutual investment opportunities .
Qatar is one of the largest investors in the UK with more than GBP35 billion (US$45.7 billion) invested in the UK economy, and that figure is expected to continue rising. The event marks the UK’s commitment to supporting Qatar’s need to diversify its economy as part of the country’s National Vision 2030 and increasing cooperation between the UK and the Gulf State’s financial services sector.
Suhail Ahmad is a partner at Gateway Islamic Advisory. He can be contacted at [email protected].
This article was first published in Islamic Finance news Volume 16 Issue 18 dated the 8th May 2019.