Seetharaman shakes hands with HE the Finance Minister Ali Shareef al-Emadi at the WEC 2014.

Global index compiler MSCI’s decision to upgrade Qatar to ‘emerging’ market is an opportunity for the Qatar Exchange-listed companies to place more emphasis on corporate governance; encourage foreign ownership and improve market capitalisation, Doha Bank has said.

The upgrade will also enable various corporates in Qatar, including family-owned companies to go public, ensure better visibility of the existing listed firms before foreign institutions and benefit from the most liquid stocks, Doha Bank Group CEO Dr R Seetharaman told the 9th World Exchange Congress (WEC 2014), which will conclude today.

“There should be extensive efforts to provide an investment environment that is more attractive for foreign investors to direct their investments towards the Qatari market by encouraging several listed companies to increase the maximum ownership percentage allocated for non-Qataris,” he said.

Highlighting that MSCI upgrade is also an opportunity for companies to give more emphasis on corporate governance and thereby encourage foreign ownership, Seetharaman said this will enable them to improve their market capitalisation.

The QE can attract as much as QR5bn foreign funds inflow after its upgrade to emerging market, he said, adding the bourse is well set to attract emerging market inflows.

Asserting that the liquid stocks are going to benefit the most, he said this gives opportunity for Qatar to open the market to foreign investors and affirms the commitment of Qatar to transform into a regional investment hub.

“There may be shift towards enhanced regulation, more transparency and a lot more maturity in the way that markets expect issuers to behave. This will also encourage both global and regional investors’ confidence,” he said.

Ever since MSCI announced its decision to upgrade QE, effective from June this year, the Qatari bourse has risen more than 12% this year.

Qatari companies such as Industries Qatar have increased their free float, which has helped to attract more liquidity to the market, he said.

Seetharaman also gave insights on various initiatives of the QE in the recent years. The bourse had introduced Universal Trading Platform, a state-of-art trading system, in 2010 and also launched new indices, covering sectors such as banks and financial services, industrials, transportation, real estate, insurance, telecom and consumer goods.