The fifth annual Mena Investment Management Forum will be held for the first time in Qatar from October 2 to 6, said a senior official of Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFC Authority).

“The Mena Investment Management Forum moving to Doha is further recognition that Qatar is becoming the regional centre for the asset management industry,” added Shashank Srivastava, acting CEO of the QFC Authority, a Qatari government-owned financial centre in Doha.

“Supported by one of the fastest growing economies in the world, high levels of institutional and retail wealth and an increasing breadth and depth of investible assets, Qatar is able to provide investment managers emerging market returns at developed market risk levels.”

Previously known as FundForum Middle East, it will offer Qatari financial service companies the opportunity to interact with their peers from across the region, to discuss the trends, opportunities and challenges facing the industry.

The forum will be opened by Yousef Hussain Kamal, the Minister of Economy and Finance, a statement said.

UK-based International Centre for Business Information (ICBI) launched FundForum Middle East in 2007 as a regional partner to the FundForum International conference, which has been running for 20 years.

Over the last four years the summit and convention has attracted leading financial and investment experts from firms operating across the GCC.  It is the premier event for the asset management industry.

“The recent Global Financial Centres Index, produced by the Z/Yen Group, shows that Qatar continues to increase its ranking as a financial centre, at a time when other regional markets have declined,” Srivastava said.

“Asset managers are looking to do business across the region, and the Middle East Investment Management Forum in Qatar will provide a great platform for them to grow their business,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service