The establishment of the centre comes as part of a memorandum of agreement between the Investment Promotion Agency Qatar (IPA Qatar) and Credit Suisse.
The MoU was signed by Sheikh Ali Alwaleed al-Thani, chief executive, IPA Qatar and Thomas Gottstein, chief executive of Credit Suisse Group, in the presence of HE Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari, Minister of Finance; HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad bin Qassim al-Abdullah al-Thani, Minister of Commerce and Industry and chairman of IPA Qatar, and Antonio Horta-Osorio, chairman of Credit Suisse.
The signing ceremony was attended by Yousuf al-Jaida, chief executive, Qatar Financial Centre; Eric Varvel, chairman of Credit Suisse Qatar; Bruno Daher, chief executive, Middle East, Credit Suisse; Aladdin Hangari, chief executive, Credit Suisse Qatar and Aventicum Capital Management; and Patrick D'Amico, Strategic Client Partner, Credit Suisse.
The proposed Global Technology Innovation Centre in Doha will act as a repository of knowledge, and as a resource pool for multiple business areas within Credit Suisse.
The MoU aims to bolster the financial services sector by accelerating the business growth of Credit Suisse in Qatar, and the wider Middle East region.
According to the terms of agreement, IPA Qatar will support the Swiss bank in deepening its onshore footprint in the market.
The IPA Qatar oversees investment promotion activities under the Invest Qatar brand and acts as the country’s umbrella organisation for attracting foreign direct investment into the country.
The new partnership paves the way for future collaborations between IPA Qatar and Credit Suisse across other fast-growing sectors, such as financial technology, and significantly expands its footprint in Qatar to serve regional and international markets.
Operating in more than 50 countries around the world, the Credit Suisse Group has been actively expanding its operations in Qatar since their branch launch in 2006 via the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) platform.
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