Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) is poised to launch new investment incentives after a series of steps that have been taken during the current year to confirm its intention to develop its systems, making it a platform for attracting local and international investments.
These steps have contributed to the increasing demand of local and international investment portfolios to invest in the world’s largest emerging market listed in the global indices in the region, and the second largest exchange market in the Middle East in terms of its capital.
The latest steps that have been taken in this regard is Qatar Exchange’s launch of two investment funds for the first time in its history, at a time it plans to launch a market for trading shares of small and medium enterprises during the second half of this year.
Rashid Ali Al Mansoori, CEO of QSE, said in a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA) that QSE is currently seeking to launch more ETFs as it is one of the most popular products among investors both domestically and abroad.
Qatar, he said, is one of the most qualified regions to achieve high growth rates in the ETF sector, considering that the nature of these funds suits the thinking of investors in the region. The QSE, in its quest to establish a market for emerging small and medium-sized companies, is working to create an incubator to achieve sustainability and growth of family businesses, the QE CEO said, stressing the readiness of the stock exchange to provide all the capabilities available to family businesses.
QSE is working in general to develop services and laws, activate the single window mechanism for listing, develop the licensing mechanism for intermediaries in cooperation with the Qatar Financial Markets Authority, and also try to develop the services so that there is one venue that the investor reaches and gets his service in seconds or delivered through modern technological media, as well as seeking to provide all services online, Al Mansoori revealed.
On March 4, Qatar Exchange announced details of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a group of securities in an investment fund. It is Qatar’s first listed exchange-traded funds (ETF) on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) and the largest in the Gulf.
The ETF designed to track the Qatar Exchange index which screens for the top 20 listed companies in Qatar by market cap and liquidity.
At the end of the same month, the QSE witnessed the listing of Al Rayan Qatar ETF (QATR). The Fund tracks the QSE Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price), which consists of Shariah-compliant companies listed on QSE.
Al Rayan Qatar ETF is one of the largest Islamic funds traded in the Middle East and emerging countries and the second largest Islamic fund in the world. It is also the largest Islamic investment fund listed in one country, with an initial asset of $120m.
The Peninsula
21/06/2018
