Doha Bank Opens Office in Singapore

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Tang Li, Arab News

SINGAPORE, 17 September 2006 — Amidst the backdrop of the conferences and discussions being held at the IMF-World Bank meetings in Singapore, Arab-Asian business ties took a major step closer together when Doha Bank, the largest private bank opened a representative office in Singapore.

Doha Bank opened its Singapore office in an event where Abdullah Saud Al-Thani, governor of Qatar Central Bank was the guest of Honor.

Doha Bank’s Managing Director and CEO Abdul Rehman ibn Mohammad Al-Thani described the opening of representative office in Singapore is a major step in spreading Doha Bank’s wings on the global network.

Abdul Rehman said, “Our representative office will play a major role in linking Far-Eastern financial hub with the GCC region and will facilitate trade transactions between the organizations of Far Eastern countries and Qatar. With our full-fledged operation in Dubai round the corner, now we are best placed to service our corporate and institutional customers across the continents.”

Doha Bank’s Singapore representative office will help to facilitate business and investment opportunities in Qatar for Singaporean companies thus helping to facilitate the trade transactions between Middle East and Far East. The office will help Doha Bank to build relationship with local Singaporean banks and other financial institutions from the Far East. Doha Bank’s office will also help to develop trade ties for Doha Bank in Qatar as well as New York and Dubai

The bank’s representative office will be led by M. Sathyamurthy and it will be located in Singapore’s financial district at Suntec Tower-1, 7 Temasek Boulevard, Singapore.

The opening of a representative office is one of the major steps for Doha Bank in its ambitious plans to expand beyond its shore and throughout the world. Doha Bank has already received license from the UAE central bank to open commercial branch in Dubai it is the only Qatari Bank to have full-fledged branch in New York and UAE.

Doha Bank’s opening of its office in Singapore has been viewed as a boost for the country’s aims to position itself as a regional banking sector and as an “honest broker,” for Middle Eastern financial institutions to operate within the region.

The bank will join other banks from the Arab world who have a presence in Singapore like Arab Bank from Jordan, National Bank of Kuwait as well as National Commercial Bank and Riyad Bank Saudi Arabia.