Qatar Daily News

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) is to open an office in Doha, Qatar, having acquired formal approval from the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Regulatory Authority.

BTMU is a commercial bank at the core of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). MUFG is Japan’s leading financial group, with 1,244 offices in Japan, plus 459 overseas (as of 30 September, 2008, including Union Bank N.A. offices, a subsidiary of MUFG), ranked as the world’s 9th largest (in market value, as of 30 November, 2008) (Bloomberg).

Qatar has an ample natural gas supply and the No.1 GDP per capita in the world, which is expected to rise further with the start of the operation of the natural gas projects currently under development. This will give rise to an abundance of business opportunities in project finance such as natural gas- or infrastructure-related areas, in governmental organisation loan trading, as well as in managing surplus funds derived from Qatar’s nergy erlated revenue.

Lately in the Middle East, a sharp increase has taken place in the number of foreign companies expanding into the region, especially the Gulf area. Doha, the capital e of Qatar, is establishing its position as one of the transportation and commodity distribution hubs in the region. The number of companies expanding into Doha, both of Japanese and other nationalities, is likely to grow further, and BTMU would like to provide assistance to such customers.

Stuart Pearce, CEO & Director General of Qatar Financial Centre Authority, said “We are delighted to welcome Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as a QFC licensed firm. Their presence in Qatar’s financial sector demonstrates the scale of Japan’s trade with Qatar, and with the region. It also underlines the strength of Qatar’s economy and the opportunities it provides to financial institutions relative to other markets around the world at the moment.”

The Doha office of BTMU will liaise with BTMU Bahrain Branch (opened in 1980) and its 2 other Offices in the Middle East (Dubai and Abu Dhabi), 2 Representative Offices (Cairo, Tehran), and the Japan Desk / National Bank of Abu Dhabi (started affiliated operation in 2002, located in Dubai), contributing to enhance financial services for customers active in the Middle East region, providing support and gathering information. This will be backed up by BTMU’s powerful network of 89 offices in Europe, Africa and Asia, which has strong economic connections with the Middle East.

BTMU will strive to provide a financial service of even higher quality to customers conducting business worldwide, to achieve our goal of ‘No.1 in service, No.1 in reliability, No.1 in global coverage’.

Al Bawaba

Sustained investment in LNG production since the past 20 years will help Qatar continue a growth of 8.5 per cent in 2009 as it tackles an “entrenched” inflation and continues to witness a net rise in the number of immigrants, a new study said.

London-based Standard Chartered bank, in its country briefing, said Qatar will continue to diversify its economy. “We expect Qatar to continue investing in its economy despite the current slump in commodity prices. Qatar is now reaping the rewards of its continued investment in major liquid natural gas developments throughout the 1990s despite depressed oil prices,” the report highlighted.

Qatar, which is currently producing 30 million tonnes per annum of LNG, plans to increase it to 77 million tonnes per annum in 2010.

Its LNG production capacity is much ahead of other gas majors Russia and Iran. It recently edged past competitors like Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia.
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Qatar is set to shift its investment focus back to domestic projects as the economy slows sharply and firms face higher financing costs, the country’s top financial regulator said on Friday.

Qatar, which is the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas exporter, has been investing windfall oil revenues overseas, snapping up stakes in international companies with the economy expanding 20 percent in the past few years.

“This year we are having to manage with growth at under half of that … In many ways there’s a chance to catch your breath. A little bit less growth is healthy at this stage,” Phillip Thorpe, chairman and chief executive of the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, told Reuters. “The government is now looking at a significant programme of domestic investment … rather than looking for assets in other markets. My expectations are a much greater emphasis on internal infrastructure investments,” said Thorpe, who is a former managing director at the UK Financial Services Authority.
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