State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to establish an office in the Qatar Financial Center (QFC) as part of its efforts to better serve the Gulf region.
India’s public sector banking behemoth SBI, whose total assets stood in excess of $218bn as of March 31, 2009, has foreign offices/subsidiaries in 32 countries with a network of 83 branches/offices spanning all the time zones.
SBI has already taken on lease about 314sqm of office space in Alfardan Towers, which is one of the sites designated by the QFC Authority.
ICICI Bank is the other Indian financial institution to have their operations in the QFC, which has 136 licensed firms (regulated and non-regulated). The regulated entities, which includes banks and other financial companies, come under the ambit of the QFC regulatory authority and non-regulated under the QFCA.