Doha: Qatar may launch its planned single financial regulator this year, the head of the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) said yesterday.
The Gulf country first unveiled the plan for a joint market watchdog in 2007 to cope with its growing financial and banking sectors, and to attract foreign investment as it competes with regional rivals such as Dubai.
"I hope it [the launch] is rather this year than next," QFCRA chairman and chief executive Phillip Thorpe told media on the sidelines of a regulatory conference.
The global financial crises delayed the plan as the world's largest natural gas exporter focused on containing risks in the banking sector.
Thorpe said the project was back in focus again as government officials have in recent weeks said that progress would be made.
The plan would combine the Qatar Financial Centre regulator, the Qatar Central Bank and the Qatar Financial Markets Authority, which regulates the Doha bourse, into one entity.
The global credit crunch sparked calls across the globe for tighter regulation of the financial industry.
Qatar, whose economy is seen growing 16 per cent this year, spent roughly 6.5 per cent of gross domestic product on its intervention in the banking sector last year.
