Mena News - Qatar Woos Insurers
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Sep 2006
Qatar is on the lookout for life insurers to set up operations in its Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), dangling carrots like free repatriation of capital and profit and a zero-tax regime until the end of 2008. The QFC is also promising that there will be no ownership restrictions.
Mr Phillip Thorpe, Chairman and CEO of the QFC Regulatory Authority, said that life insurance was particularly under-served and in high demand. Other opportunities for financial institutions include asset management, reinsurance and investment banking.
He was speaking during a visit to Singapore to promote opportunities in the Gulf state.
Set up in May 2005, the QFC is part of Qatar’s plan to develop the country as a hub for international financial services and businesses in the Middle East. The burgeoning economic growth in Qatar – fuelled by rising oil and gas revenues – is leading to US$130 billion worth of projects. These, in turn, are driving the need for greater financial support services.
Mr Thorpe said that the dearth of financial professionals in the Middle East region was the reason the QFC was trying to tap into expertise from Singapore. The other Asian market it is aiming to attract is Hong Kong.
The news comes as the Qatari government is in the final stages of issuing a comprehensive set of new insurance laws to overhaul insurance practices in the state.