The Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority said today (20 November) it had entered into a settlement agreement with AIX Advisory Group LLC (AIX) to resolve matters following an investigation which found "misleading and false claims" that it was offering to arrange deals in investments.
AIX was licensed on 14 June 2022 by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority to provide management and business consulting, which are non-regulated activities that did not require an authorisation from the Regulatory Authority.
The investigation found that between June 2022 to November 2023, certain materials were published on AIX’s websites that were misleading and falsely claimed that AIX was offering to arrange deals in investments, which is a regulated activity that requires an authorisation from the Regulatory Authority.
While AIX made these misleading statements on its websites, the investigation did not identify instances where AIX provided this service to its customers.
AIX has removed the misleading materials from their websites, the regulator further said.
AIX demonstrated a commitment to settle the matter at the initial stage of the investigation, cooperated with the Regulatory Authority during the investigation, and took the necessary remedial steps to address the matter.
As part of the settlement, AIX agreed to pay a fine of QAR 36,450 and the Regulatory Authority’s costs and expenses related to the investigation, which were an additional QAR 36,450.
The settlement agreement resolves the matter to the satisfaction of the Regulatory Authority, the statement concluded.
