Doha Bank CEO to QNA: Bank Plans to Expand Further to Enhance Qatar’s Relations with Asian Nations

Doha: HE Doha Bank Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Fahad bin Faisal Al-Thani asserted that the bank looks forward to continuing its strategy to expand globally in pursuit of capitalizing on trade and investment opportunities and build on the growing advancement of Qatar's relationships with countries, especially the Asian ones. On the occasion of the tour of HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to the Philippines, Bangladesh and Nepal, His Excellency highlighted to Qatar News Agency that the bank's expansion plans are consistent with its vision to be a reliable partner in achieving growth and prosperity, lend impetus to economic development and strengthen bilateral relations between Qatar and these countries. The bank has an extensive presence in Asia through operating two subsidiaries that offer integrated services in India, along with the representative offices stationed in Singapore, Japan, and China, alongside two offices in Nepal and Bangladesh, His Excellency added, p ointing out that the bank has forged close ties with a network of banks extending from West Asia to Southeast Asia. His Excellency affirmed that these offices play a crucial role in enhancing trade and investment cooperation between the State of Qatar, Nepal, and Bangladesh, emphasizing that the Doha Bank Group established a representative office in Bangladesh in May 2016, followed by another office in Nepal in 2018 to benefit from the promising potential of those countries in trade exchange with the State of Qatar and the remaining network of the group. He pointed out that the two offices undertake a critical role in pushing trade and investment ties between the three countries forward, particularly with Nepal's transition to a middle-income country, generating massive opportunities for the two sides to advance trade and investment exchange in vital economic sectors such as agriculture, tourism, and banking. To substantiate its role in this area, Doha Bank Group provided facilitations to funded enterprise s in Nepal in 2023 worth USD100 million, His Excellency asserted, stating that the growth of trading volume between the two sides which rose to 40 percent is a testament to the major role played by Doha Bank Group in boosting cooperation between Nepali and Qatari enterprises. HE the Doha Bank Group CEO emphasized that the same thing applies to the bank's role in Bangladesh where it provided letters of credit worth USD375 million in the past year, highlighting that Bangladesh's dependence on Qatar to obtain Urea fertilizers represents an opportunity for Doha Bank Group to provide further funding service and upgrade trade ties with Qatar. His Excellency pointed out that the office of Doha Bank Group has significantly contributed to fostering financial and banking systems in Nepal and Bangladesh via a remittance platform established based on state-of-the-art technologies in collaboration with four banks in Nepal and Bangladesh to meet the needs of the two 350,000-member communities residing in Qatar. He stated that the majority of remittance outflow from Qatar to Nepal and Bangladesh is processed through Doha Bank Group, something that supports financial inclusiveness. The existence of Doha Bank Group in Qatar is critical to help the local enterprises in Nepal and Bangladesh access international banking services and expertise since the bank invariably expedites financed and non-financed transactions, as well as financial market transactions of multiple banks in Nepal and Bangladesh, culminating in bolstering the financial and banking system in those countries. After more than five years since its inauguration, the office of Doha Bank Group in Nepal and Bangladesh has made major gains, in terms of facilitating financial flows and trade exchanges, in addition to enhancing investment opportunities, His Excellency outlined. He pointed out that in Bangladesh, the volumes of unfunded financial institutions increased from USD 225 million to USD 310 million over the last three years, while the volume of letter of credit discounts increased by 77 percent, and in 2023, money market transactions reached USD 370 million. He added that in Nepal, the volume of financed business has more than doubled in the past three years, and financial deposits have grown by two and a half times, while money market transactions have reached USD 100 million in 2023. Source: Qatar News Agency