Citi Celebrates Its QFC Presence in Qatar

Doha – Citi, the leading global financial services company, yesterday celebrated the receipt of its banking license approved by the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority.

Mr. Sanford I. Weill, Citi’s Chairman Emeritus, was presented with the license by H.E. Yousuf Hussein Kamal, Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Economy and Commerce and Chairman of the Qatar Financial Center Authority, Mr. Stuart Pearce, CEO and Director General of Qatar Financial Center Authority and Mr. Phillip Thorpe, Chairman and CEO, Qatar Financial Center Regulatory Authority.

The QFC license handover ceremony was held in style at a ceremony at Doha’s Four Season’s Hotel and was also attended by Mr. Shirish Apte, CEO of Citi’s Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region and Mr. Mohammed Al-Shroogi, Citi’s Managing Director for the Middle East and Chief Executive Officer for the UAE.

The ceremony was followed by a dinner at the hotel attended by senior government officials, regulators, customers and diplomats.

Mr. Al-Shroogi said: "Qatar is an important market with tremendous potential for Citi. Through our physical presence at the QFC and Citi’s unmatched global reach and cross-market experience, we aim to become a provider of choice for Qatari corporates.”

“Tonight we celebrate our entry into Qatar. It feels good to be closer to our esteemed clients whom we’ve served over the past two decades through Citi Bahrain. I’m happy to say that we are on the ground as a full-fledged corporate branch and looking forward to growing our business with existing and new clients,” said Farhan Mahmood, Citi Country Head for Qatar.

Stuart Pearce said: “It is important to Qatar and to the Qatar Financial Center that the world’s leading financial institutions are represented in the marketplace to support the government’s significant investment program. But more than this, the presence of Citi as the world’s largest bank will bring both new standards and scale to Qatar which are key to the nation’s future strategy. “

Phillip Thorpe added:” I am delighted to welcome Citi and I am confident that their presence here can only benefit Qatar’s ambitious long term strategic objectives and increase the quality of the QFC offering.”

Citi’s branch in Qatar will be located at the new QFC building in Doha’s West Bay area and will offer Citi’s full suite of corporate and investment banking products and services.

Citi has been in the Arab world for nearly 50 years and continues to view the region as critical to its global franchise. It is currently present in ten Arab countries including Egypt, UAE, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. It also serves clients in non-presence countries, such as Yemen and Oman through Bahrain and Dubai.