(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Satish Kanady I The Peninsula
The Qatar FinTech Hub (QFTH), co-founded by Qatar Development Bank (QDB), is looking to attract Global companies in fintech industry to Qatar.
Participating in a webinar hosted jointly by Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), Agoria Financial Services Technology Club and QFTH, Georges Fouad Salem, Business Intelligence Manager, QDB said that QFTH is currently engaged with some of the top global fintech hubs to enable its FinTech strategy before creating a world-class interconnected market in Qatar.
Bart De Groof, Ambassador of Belgium to Qatar; Henk Jan Hoogendoorn, Managing Director, Financial Sector Office, QFC; Wim De Waele, Executive Chairman of the Board, The Beacon; and Charlotte Struy, Agoria Financial Services Technology Club also attended the webinar.
As part of its strategic global partnership, QFTH has already wooed the Singapore- based NIUM. NIUM is one of the world's largest global financial infrastructure platform providers. Georges said NIUM will set up in Qatar as an anchor tenant. The company has presence in over 65 countries.
He said QFTH is designed as a central entity to mobilise and promote the fintech ecosystem in Qatar. This will be executed in collaboration with Qatar Central Bank (QCB) QFC and other stakeholders.
Henk Jan Hoogendoorn, Managing Director, Financial Sector Office, QFC said QFC will provide a ‘low entry barrier' for the companies joining its platform. The licence fee for the prospective companies will be waived for one year.
The Fintech service provider, as defined by QFC, will provide cybrsecurity solutions , loud computing solutions, platforms for facilitating real-time transactions capability of internet-connected devices and help developing algorithmbased portfolio management, personal finance management , and budgeting tools.
The growing local demand will drive the businesses of the prospective companies. The opportunities include the huge payment businesses (PayTech), enabling fintech in SMES, opportunities in insurance sector (InsureTech), DataTech, and Islamic FinTEch.
QFTH has already announced the first FinTec Incubator and Acceleration Programs in Qatar. Georges said Qatar Fintech Hub is keen to provide access to capital, access to local financial institutions and to industry players to the participating fintech companies.
The FinTech Hub will act as a catalyst to transform Qatar's financial services industry to become globally competitive.
Through the use of technology, fintech and financial institutions will focus on delivering meaningful solutions to address identified local global challenges. The idea is to create a FinTech-friendly market in Qatar and a vibrant hub to develop local FinTech and attract global firms.
Georges said FinTech can be leveraged to deliver desired outcomes, such as transform FIFA World Cup 2022 as a ‘cashless' World Cup in addition to supporting the country's economic diversification agenda in line with QNV 2030. The QFTH will help transform Qatar's financial institutions to be more digital and collaborative to strengthen the stability of the local financial system, with a focus on regulatory initiatives that matter.
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