5 September 2022, Doha – Qatar: The Investment Promotion Agency Qatar (IPA Qatar) and Credit Suisse have announced a new partnership in which the bank will expand on its existing operations in Doha and establish the Qatar Technology & Engineering Hub. This expansion will further strengthen the bank’s leading wealth management business, deepen the bank’s local footprint and contribute to accelerating Credit Suisse’s development and digitisation in Qatar and the wider region.

In addition to strengthening Qatar’s position as a leading financial services hub, Credit Suisse will create up to 100 roles over the next few years across all of the bank’s divisions as well as through the launch of the technology and engineering hub. The hub also serves as a strategic asset in the region and a resource pool for numerous Credit Suisse business divisions.

Today’s announcement builds on the October 2021 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between IPA Qatar and Credit Suisse, which aims to further bolster the financial services sector by accelerating the business growth of Credit Suisse in Qatar, and the wider Middle East region.

Sheikh Ali Alwaleed Al-Thani said: “We are pleased to embark on a new strategic step in our partnership with Credit Suisse and jointly advance the digital transformation of the financial services sector. The launch of a world-class technological hub in Doha provides further impetus and expertise for the sector development and opens many windows of business growth opportunities by fostering technology and innovation. We look forward to continuing our distinctive collaboration with Credit Suisse to advance Qatar’s financial services for years to come.”

Ulrich Körner, CEO of Credit Suisse, commented: “Given the Middle East is a key growth market for the bank, we are excited to be further scaling up our operations in Qatar. We are planning to expand our existing business operations over the next few years across all of our divisions as well as adding new functions which will strengthen, broaden and ensure quicker delivery of our offerings to clients. The creation of our Qatar Technology and Engineering Hub will be instrumental in supporting the growth of our franchise across the Middle East and beyond.”

Credit Suisse is present in more than 50 countries around the world and has been operating and actively expanding in Qatar since 2006 via the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) platform.

Accelerating growth of financial services in Qatar

Rooted in the Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030) in 2008, the overarching mandate of fostering a diversified and knowledge-based economy has been a key catalyst to growing the financial services sector in Qatar. Today, this sector has become one of the major contributors to Qatar’s economy. It is ranked 2nd after the hydro-carbon industry. With Qatar’s continuous economic growth, which is poised to be the highest among GCC countries according to the World Bank (4.5% in 2023 and 4.4% in 2024), the demand for financial services grows accordingly. Through a string of remarkable economic, legislative, and regulatory reforms, Qatar has developed a world-class climate for business and investment, offering several benefits including but not restricted to, zero tax on personal income, tax holidays, and no restrictions on profit repatriation. The country provides a conducive financial services industry, which has attracted renowned international institutions, such as UBS, HSBC, and Intesa Sanpaolo among others. The strength of Qatar’s financial services industry is evidenced by the growing interest of some of the world’s largest financial institutions, such as Credit Suisse.