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Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has announced that its entire Private Banking team, along with members from the Product team, have successfully obtained the International Investments and Securities certification from the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI).The achievement positions QIB among the first banks in Qatar to have a fully certified Private Banking team, further reinforcing its commitment to offering world-class expertise and qualified advisory in international investments and securities.The certification marks a significant milestone in QIB’s strategy to further elevate wealth advisory standards for high- and ultra-high-net-worth (HNWI/UHNWI) customers. It also underscores the Personal Banking Group’s commitment to strengthening its investment management and advisory capabilities, complementing QIB’s strong deposit franchise and paving the way for new avenues of sustainable growth.D Anand, general manager, Personal Banking Group at QIB, said: “This success belongs to the team. Our colleagues demonstrated exemplary teamwork, supporting one another throughout a rigorous process to ensure that everyone crossed the finish line together.“By building certified in-house wealth advisory and investment product management capabilities, the Personal Banking Group is now better positioned to serve our customers with greater depth, responsiveness, and insight.”The qualification assures HNWI and VHNWI customers that their portfolios are managed with discipline and in alignment with the highest global standards. QIB has proactively developed its Wealth Advisory and Investment Product Management capabilities to support the bank’s growth agenda across investment products, while maintaining a customer-first approach.Reaffirming its commitment to a prudent and Shariah-compliant wealth proposition, QIB continues to safeguard customers’ interests, strengthen governance, and drive sustainable growth. Building on its culture of collaboration and continuous learning, the bank will keep investing in certified human expertise and digital innovation to deliver superior client experiences and create long-term value for customers, shareholders and the wider community, in line with QIB’s business strategy, corporate governance and sustainability principles. 

Some of the year’s most popular emerging-market trades such as betting on the Brazilian real and stocks linked to artificial intelligence are becoming a source of concern as money managers warn of risks from overcrowding.Wells Fargo Securities sees valuations for Latin American currencies — among 2025’s top carry trade performers — as detached from fundamentals. Fidelity International is concerned about less liquid markets in Africa that it sees at risk should global volatility spike. Lazard Asset Management meanwhile is keeping its guard up after early November’s firesale in Asian tech stocks — the worst since April.“Investors are too complacent on emerging markets,” said Brendan McKenna, an emerging-market economist and FX strategist at Wells Fargo in New York. “FX valuations, for most if not all, are stretched and not capturing a lot of the risks hovering over markets. They can continue to perform well in the near-term, but I do feel a correction will be unavoidable.”Such caution isn’t without reason. Many parts of the developing-markets universe look overheated after a heady cocktail of Federal Reserve rate cuts, a softer dollar and an AI boom drove stellar gains. The very flows that propelled the rally are now posing the risk of sudden drawdowns that have the potential to ripple through global sentiment and tighten liquidity across asset classes.A quarterly HSBC Holdings Plc survey of 100 investors representing a total $423bn of developing-nation assets showed in September that 61% of them had a net overweight position in local-currency EM bonds, up from minus 15% in June. A Bloomberg gauge of the debt is on track for its best returns in six years.The MSCI Emerging Markets Index of stocks has risen each month this year through October — the longest run in over two decades. Up almost 30%, the gauge is headed for its best annual gain since 2017, when it rallied 34%. That was followed by a 17% slump in 2018 when a more hawkish than expected Fed, a US-China trade war and a surging dollar took the wind out of overcrowded EM stocks as well as popular carry — in which traders borrow in lower-yielding currencies to buy those that offer higher yields — and local-bond trades.“As we approach year-end, there is a risk that some investors look to take profits on what has been a successful trade in 2025 and that this leads to a rise in volatility in FX markets,” Anthony Kettle, senior portfolio manager at RBC BlueBay Asset Management in London, said in reference to local-currency bonds.Stock traders in Asia this month had a first-hand experience of the risks that come with extreme valuations and crowding, when the region’s high-flying AI shares took a sudden nosedive. While tech stocks sold off globally, analysts have cautioned that the risk in some Asian markets are even more pronounced given the sector’s relatively higher weighting in their indexes.One notable example is South Korea’s Kospi — the world’s top-performing major equity benchmark in 2025, with an almost 70% jump. As volatility spiked, the gauge plunged more than 6% in one session before paring half of the losses by the close. “Positioning in Korea’s AI-memory trade is extremely tight,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets in Singapore.Rohit Chopra, an emerging-market equity portfolio manager at Lazard Asset Management in New York, has turned cautious after the tech rout.“From a factor perspective, lower-quality companies have been outperforming higher-quality peers,” he said. “Historically, this divergence has not been sustained, suggesting the potential for a reversal if positioning remains concentrated.”Chopra co-manages the Lazard Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio, which has returned 23% over the past three years, beating 95% of peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Options traders appear to be turning bearish on the Brazilian real, which has delivered carry trade returns of around 30% this year. Three-month risk reversals rose to a four-year high earlier this month.The real is the best example of an asset that has had a good run this year and where positioning has now become crowded, said Alvaro Vivanco, head of strategy at TJM FX. There are renewed fiscal concerns for Brazil, which is another reason to be more cautious, he said.Other Latin American currencies such as Chile’s, Mexico’s and Colombia’s are also “looking a little rich,” said Wells Fargo’s McKenna.The trade-weighted value of the Colombian peso is at the highest in seven years, according to data from the Bank of International Settlements, and is one standard deviation above the 10-year average. The same gauge for the Mexican peso is 1.4 standard deviations above the average.Bonds in some frontier markets also emerged as beneficiaries when a broader investor shift away from US assets gathered pace this year. Asset managers such as Fidelity International are now sounding caution on them.“More concerning to me are trades where a sudden rush for an exit can overwhelm the natural buyer base,” said Philip Fielding, a portfolio manager for Fidelity. Markets such as Egypt, the Ivory Coast or Ghana “can also be illiquid in times of higher volatility,” he added.Fielding is the lead manager for the $538mn Fidelity Emerging Market Debt Fund that has returned about 12% in the past three years, beating 84% of peers, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Legal Perspective One of the major reasons that promoters select the corporate form of business is the variety of funding sources available to the business they incorporate. The initial funds and property may come directly from the promoters or it may come from many investors. An important source of financing is the sale of corporate securities in the form of shares, debentures, bonds, and long-term notes. Other sources of funding are also prevalent. Short-term bank loans may provide at least part of the operating capital of the company. Frequently, the promoters and major shareholders will be required to co-sign these notes. Often, this short-term funding will come in the form of accounts receivable financing and inventory financing. Of course, once the company is operating profitably, retained earnings may generate an important source of funds. With reference to stocks, if a company has only one class of stock, it is common stock. If there is more than one class, the common shareholders usually bear the major risks of the business and will benefit most from success. They receive what is left-over after the preference of other classes have been satisfied. This is usually true for both income available for dividends and for net assets on liquidation. Common stock usually carries voting rights. There may be more than one class of common stock, however, such as Class A and Class B. One class may have no right to vote. Herein, any stock that has a preference over another class of stock is called preferred stock or “preference shares”. Usually, preferred shareholders have a preference as to dividends and the distribution of assets when the company is dissolved. The rights of preferred shareholders may vary from company to company. In some instances, preferred stock may be made convertible into common stock. And sometimes preferred stockholders will be given voting rights. However, usually the right to vote is granted only in the event that dividends due are not paid. Preferred stock can be redeemed, that is, paid off and cancelled by the company if the articles permit. Shares of stock are generally issued in exchange for money, property, or services already performed for the company. The board of directors is entrusted with the authority to decide what is the proper amount and form of consideration for the shares. Company articles, however, will frequently place some limitations on the discretion of the board in order to protect the rights of creditors and other shareholders. The law requires that shares be issued only for money, tangible or intangible property and services already performed for the company. Most of the laws do not permit the promoter’s pre-incorporation services to be proper consideration for shares because the services were not technically rendered to the company. The company was not in existence at the time of these services. Likewise, the laws do not consider promissory notes or pledges of future services to be acceptable forms of consideration for shares. This is because such promises may overstate the value of the company since they may never be performed. The law permits promises of future services and promissory notes to be exchanged for shares since they do have value to a company. Of course, because of the risk of nonperformance, the value may not be as great as the value of services that have already been rendered to the company. Further, the law allows the company to issue shares to the promoters in exchange for their pre-incorporation efforts because the company has benefited from such services. Without these services, the company would probably not exist.Dr AbdelGadir Warsama Ghalib is a corporate legal counsel. Email: [email protected]

The Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) participated in the annual meeting of the Africa/Middle East Committee (AMERC) of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), which was held in the UAE. QFMA chief executive officer Dr Tamy bin Ahmad al-Binali attended the meeting, which discussed several issues and topics, including online harms in digital securities markets, the regional capital markets integration, the members’ experiences and initiatives in this regard, lessons learned and challenges ahead. During the workshop accompanying the meeting, the shift towards the use of tokenised digital assets (tokenisation) in financial markets was highlighted and discussed whether this technology represents a natural progression in market development or poses a challenge to traditional regulatory systems. The meeting also explored modern trends in the future of sustainable finance, how environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations have become part of the global financial system, and how financial markets can be reshaped to keep pace with these new standards. On the sidelines of the meeting, al-Binali met with Emmanuel Givanakis, chief executive officer of the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) in Abu Dhabi. During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on several issues and topics of mutual interest, and they discussed bilateral co-operation, particularly in the areas of capital markets and financial services. They also reviewed the key global developments and trends in this field and explored future avenues for collaboration between both parties.