Qatar is home to a new breed of Islamic bank: QInvest’s strong innovative capability has fuelled its progress to become the leading investment bank in the country in only 4 years.
QInvest is a relatively new entrant in the fast-growing world of Islamic finance, its aim being to bring together specialist investment banking, investment management, brokerage expertise and tailored wealth management services for its clients.
Licensed by the Qatar Financial Center Authority in April 2007, QInvest is approaching its fourth birthday this year. The young fast growing investment bank has already enjoyed considerable success, including the award for the Best Sharia’a Compliant Firm at the Private Equity World Awards held in the UAE in January of this year, and an award for Sharia’a Fund of the Year from the Global Investor Future of Capital Markets Forum in November 2010. These complement the firm’s latest global award of ‘Best Up-and-Comer’ investment bank and country award for ‘Best Investment Bank in Qatar’ from Global Finance magazine.
With Qatar Islamic Bank as its major shareholder and authorized capital of US$1 billion, QInvest is building its reputation for excellence with clients. Investors confidence in the firm was evidence by its recent successful rights issue to boost its paid up capital beyond the initial US$500million to its current level of US$750 million. The firm provides a wide range of products and services covering advisory, financing and investment needs. This is supported by access to regional know how and international expertise in Qatar and across selected countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, India, United Kingdom and United States.
QInvest becomes involved on behalf of its clients at a number of different levels. The first may be for companies or individuals seeking advisory services whilst considering investments or setting up local projects in Qatar and the region. Subsequent product offerings include setting up finance, whether that be via debt, equity or mezzanine funding – or a fully comprehensive service. The firm may also make co-investments alongside its clients.
The bank’s forward planning currently has a three period focus, as Chief Executive Officer Shahzad Shahbaz explains. “Our strategy is very much based in line with what is going to happen in Qatar over the next twelve months, (then) the next three to five years, and then over a ten year period.” All of which ties into Qatar’s National Vision for 2030.
The global reach of QInvest’s business offering is an aspect the bank is keen to emphasize. As Shahbaz points out, the country expects in forthcoming years to generate “very significant amounts of surplus capital - no matter how much you invest in Qatar, you will still have surplus capital left and this capital will be exported.” So QInvest’s role is to provide their clients with an international as well as local investment service – all within the tenets of Islamic banking. The international markets it focuses on most closely include the Middle East, Turkey, Africa and South and South-East Asia.
One indication how this strategic plan is moving forward is QInvest’s strategic partners in the UK and the USA. Another is their partnership in India, which provides services in corporate finance, institutional investment and private equity across the subcontinent and beyond.
Nor is their appetite for diversifying overseas restricted to the financial services sector. In November of last year QInvest took a 28% stake in India-based company, Asian Business and Exhibition and Conferences (ABCEL), which at the time Shahbaz described as “an investment which fits well into our strategy of supporting well-managed companies with strong growth potential in the MENASA region”. He points to financial investors’ constant search for effective risk management, rarely more focused than in these turbulent times in the Middle East. This investment was followed by taking a stake in FIITJEE Limited, India’s leading test Preparation Company for engineering and medical entrance examinations. Elsewhere in the region, QInvest took 40.8 % stake in Intercat Hospitality and Butlers Dry Cleaning and Laundry Services (the “Group”), one of the UAE’s leading outsourced business services companies. “These sectors are developing rapidly and Intercat and Butlers are the leaders,” comments Shahbaz. “We invested in them because the company has very good management and a business in this sector will grow in this region as infrastructure grows.”
While QInvest is keen to emphasize its increasingly international capabilities - and certainly further joint ventures and strategic alliances outside the Gulf region are by no means ruled out - Qatar remains for the time being very much their ‘home turf’. And their ambitions are bold: to provide a tailor-made, full service Islamic banking platform which differentiates them from the competition. In order to do so, Shahbaz believes the key to success lies in a combination of the calibre of their people and the company’s product execution. As he puts it “ultimately you succeed in the long term if you deliver in a high quality way, day in and day out”.
In order to achieve that level of performance you need the right people, and QInvest has set in place an innovative recruitment policy that aims to attract a wide range of candidates - both in terms of their background and previous training and experience. This involves what Shahbaz describes as “a fairly elaborate internal screening process” that draws on the expertise of a broad cross section of individuals from different departments within the firm.
Moreover, this search for excellence is not restricted to the higher echelons. QInvest has also put in place a recruitment program targeted at universities internationally as well as one aimed at young Qataris, to whom they will offer training and development alongside jobs in the firm.
As Qatar prepares to make history by hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022, QINVEST provides unrivalled access to capital sources and quality advice to ensure investing in Qatar is a rewarding experience for all clients. Like the country as a whole, QInvest is looking to the future.