The Investment Promotion Agency Qatar (IPA Qatar) and UBS have agreed to support the establishment by UBS of a Business Solutions Hub in Qatar, in addition to the newly created UBS Wealth Management Office in Doha, which opened its doors to regional clients in April 2021.
IPA Qatar said in a statement on 2 February that the agreement builds on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in November 2020, which aimed to further strengthen Qatar's position as a leading financial services hub by accelerating the growth of UBS operations in the State and supporting its expansion in the Middle East.
The launch of a Business Solutions Hub contributes to advancing the financial digitisation in Qatar, it said, while supporting the local talent development, as up to 200 digital experts will be employed over the next few years.
The Hub would also serve UBS's expansion strategy in the Middle East through providing a centralised data and solution platform for regional clients' services and products.
The promotion agency further said the launch of the Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030) in 2008, with an overarching mandate of fostering a diversified and knowledge-based economy, has been a key catalyst to growing the financial services sector in Qatar.
It highlighted that Qatar's Islamic finance assets grew by a CAGR of 8% since 2015 to $129bn in H1 2019, constituting 33% of Qatar's total financial system assets, reflecting significant growth opportunities. Similarly, Qatar had been bolstering the fintech landscape, establishing some of the most significant fintech incubators and support programmes in the region.
