Doha - MENA Herald: Qatar’s capital markets have undergone a tumultuous time in 2015, with the Qatar Stock Exchange beginning the year as the fastest-growing market in the region, but seeing sharp falls in the following months as energy price pressures weighed on the wider economy.
On 30 November, the main index fell 4.4 percent to a two-year low in the heaviest trading volume for six months, due to concerns about the impact of low oil and gas prices on the wider economy.
However, entering into 2016, experts are confident that Qatar’s focus on an enhanced regulatory environment, as well as the underlying strength of the national economy, will sustain capital market growth in the country.
The future direction of Qatar’s capital markets, as well as the strength of the country’s institutions, will be examined at the forthcoming Euromoney Qatar Conference, set to run from 9-10 December at the Ritz-Carlton in Doha.
The speakers in the panel discussion, ‘Finance and Capital Markets in Qatar’, will include: Afa Boran, Head of Asset Management, Amwal; Sami Boujelben, Chief Adviser, Chief Executive’s Office, Qatar Financial Markets Authority; and Iain Stewart-Linnhe, a Global Regulatory and Compliance Specialist.
Among the topics examined during the session will be the interrelationship between banks and capital markets in Qatar, and asset management in the changing region. In particular, the long-term impact of a range of key government decisions will be assessed, for both bankers in Qatar and for global finance leaders.
Qatar is also taking steps to strengthen the human resources necessary to support the growth of capital markets, both in the country and across the region. The Qatar Finance and Business Academy (QFBA) recently launched Kafa’a, a first-of-its-kind training and competency framework for the banking and finance sector in the GCC region.
More than 600 senior finance and banking executives are expected to attend The Euromoney Qatar Conference, and the event is being strongly supported by national and international financial institutions.
For more information on The Euromoney Qatar Conference 2015 or to register, please visitwww.euromoneyconferences.com/qatar.