Qatar Exchange investors, who are entitled to dividends from the listed companies, will now be able to get their dues directly credited to their bank accounts compared with the current practice of issuing cheques.The QE, in association with the country’s banks, yesterday launched an ambitious initiative aimed at allowing investors to have their dividends directly deposited in their bank accounts.The purpose of this initiative, which comes in line with the best international practices, is to help develop the Qatari financial market and protect investors’ rights, QE chief executive Andre Went said.Investors would be requested to visit their bank to provide the necessary details to ensure getting the dividends paid through their bank accounts. The bourse has provided all the banks with forms, which would be required to be filled in by investors to include their bank account information.“This initiative intends to serve investors by ensuring the payment of their dividends in a fast, safe and easy manner without being compelled to collect their dividends cheques and then go to their banks to deposit them as is the situation today,” Went said.Making clear that the investors need not pay any fees or charges to avail of this service, he said all Qatari banks have come forward to support this initiative in a timely and efficient manner.Dividends paid by the shareholding companies would be electronically transferred to their bank account upon distribution, Rashid bin Ali al-Mansoori, QE deputy CEO, said, adding that the investors must choose only one bank account for this service.Although the present cheque system would continue to exist for some time, eventually all investors will have to switch over to the new system, QE officials said.“The procedure, in the first phase, will be mandatory for Qataris and residents once the legal and regulatory procedures are finalised as expected before the end of the year. It will be gradually applied to investors from GCC countries and the foreign investors in general,” he added.Investors would have to visit their banks and fill in the form available at the customer service staff to include account number and signature, so the bank can verify and stamp the forms and deliver them to the QE’s central registration department. The department would then enter the accounts details in the shareholders’ records and record those numbers in the statements sent to the shareholding companies to transfer the dividends to the investors’ bank accounts at the end of each year.
‘Bourse still in talks with govt about bond market’Qatar’s stock market is still in talks with the government about launching a bond trading platform, its chief executive said yesterday, a move that would boost liquidity and deepen capital markets in the Gulf state. “We are still discussing with the central bank and ministry of finance to have the right strategy for the government bond market,” Qatar Exchange CEO Andre Went told reporters yesterday, declining to give a timeframe for its launch. A senior bourse official in July said the bond market could launch as early as the fourth quarter this year. The QE, 20% owned by NYSE Euronext, is introducing measures aimed at modernising the market, as it awaits a decision due in December from influential index compiler MSCI over whether it has been upgraded from frontier to emerging market status.