Qatar to list two ETFs within two months

Qatar’s stock market will list two exchange-traded funds in the next two months, the chief executive of the Qatar Financial Center (QFC) Authority said on Monday.

“Within the next month or two, there will be the listing of two exchange-traded funds, one Islamic and one conventional,” Yousuf al-Jaida told reporters.

Last October, bourse officials told Reuters that Qatari banks Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank planned to launch the Gulf state’s first ETFs by the end of 2016. Jaida did not comment on Monday on the change of schedule.

The QFC currently has seven or eight licensed financial companies that would like to list on the market, Jaida said. SEIB Insurance and QInvest are the closest to listing, he added without giving details.

The QFC has its own legal, regulatory, tax and business infrastructure, which allows for 100 percent foreign ownership and full repatriation of profits.

QFC houses the Qatari offices of international banks including Citi, Deutsche Bank and UBS, although most choose to base their regional headquarters in Dubai’s more established financial free zone.