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| Parvez Khan addressing a seminar organised by Commercialbank for its Private Banking customers |
The seminar was held at the bank’s headquarters - the Commercialbank Plaza in West Bay. Prominent customers from the bank’s elite Private Banking segment attended the seminar addressed by the bank’s senior executives.
The Middle East remains one of the world’s most sophisticated and demanding private banking markets. With recent geopolitical issues across the region, there is a need for professional guidance in assessing the impact of the turmoil on capital markets across the region and specifically in Qatar. Investors are increasingly seeking information on how to restructure their investments for future expectations, in the wake of unpredictable developments across the Middle East and North Africa region.
Parvez Khan, Commercialbank head (Investment Services) and Binu Tony, head (Asset Management) spoke on the scope of investment opportunities amid the changing geopolitical environment in Qatar and the GCC.
Khan reinforced Qatar’s position as the world’s fastest growing economy and highlighted the opportunities it continues to provide in terms of economic development and its capital market. Qatar’s successful bid to host the football World Cup in 2022, its significant gas reserves, surplus balances and infrastructure spending outweigh any concern of potential geopolitical risks.
In this context, Khan referred to companies on the Qatar Stock Exchange that are and will be direct beneficiaries of the government’s spending and development plans, and illustrated the government’s support of all economic sectors in Qatar.
Tony provided information on how the region’s geopolitical developments have impacted fixed income securities. He explained that fixed income investments generally carry a lower level risk than equities while correspondingly also produce a lower level of return.
Referring to the current interest rate environment, Tony stressed that regional bonds provide a suitable alternative, while illustrating how bond prices have been impacted as a result of the regional turmoil.
Khan also detailed Commercialbank’s investment activities in Qatar and in other emerging markets. Commercialbank has proved its abilities to seek out valuable investment opportunities in emerging markets, both in the region and globally, through its extensive network of relationships and partnerships across the globe.
Khan said: “Particularly in the Middle East, people need not only sound financial advice but also a range of financial services that meet their individual investment needs of risk and return. The opportunities for investors remain enormous and the emerging markets and companies that operate within them are developing so rapidly that ignoring them could represent a risk to long-term and sustained profitability for investments.”