Forex license in Qatar: QFC route, wholesale clients only.

A QFCRA authorisation for dealing in investments, together with a QFCA licence and a company or branch registered with the CRO. The QFCRA authorises activities rather than products, so the centre has no forex or CFD category, and a firm may conduct only the activities it is authorised for.

Not in practice. A firm dealing as principal is a banking business firm, QFC banking business is restricted to wholesale banking only, and banking business with retail customers resident in Qatar is prohibited. Nor does the QFCA's list of currently permitted activities contain a brokerage, forex or CFD line.

A QFCRA-authorised firm whose scope covers deposit taking, providing credit facilities or dealing in investments as principal. It falls under the Banking Business Prudential Rules 2014 (BANK), which reflect Basel III, and QFC policy confines its banking business to wholesale clients.

In Qatar, for whoever holds the senior executive function: that Approved Individual should be ordinarily resident there. For a QFC bank the same applies to the risk management, compliance oversight and MLRO functions, and the AML rules require an MLRO and a deputy MLRO at all times.

There is no retail forex licence in the QFC to time. For a wholesale QFCRA authorisation there is no decision period we can quote, so we confirm the timing per case. The path runs from the strategic-fit review of the business plan through a formal application to the staff, premises and systems agreed with the QFCRA before approval.

A retail one is not on offer in the QFC. For a wholesale dealer, the QFCRA's application and annual fees and the BANK base capital are confirmed in the quote. The USD 500 fee in the QFCA's guide applies to non-regulated firms, not to a dealer.

Yes, within its authorisation: a QFC firm may transact business with customers locally, regionally or internationally, in any currency. It may not engage in any activity that the QFCA or the QFCRA prohibits, whatever the customer's location, and its authorisation carries no passport into other markets.

At 10% on locally sourced profits under the QFC Tax Regulations (2010). The 0% concessionary rate goes to investment managers, reinsurers, captive insurers and businesses at least 90% Qatari-owned, not to a foreign-owned dealer, and payments to recipients outside Qatar carry no withholding tax.

It turns on where the counterparties sit. The DFSA's tiers are USD 500,000 for Category 3A and USD 2 million for Category 2, and our own Dubai office files with the DFSA. Qatar suits a group whose wholesale business is already in Doha, and it taxes locally sourced profits at 10%, against the UAE's 9%.

We tell a founder at the start whether the QFC fits the model, then write the Regulatory Business Plan, build the QFCRA application and handle CRO registration and the Approved Individual candidates. The work runs through our Doha office; where the plan needs retail clients, we build that licence outside the QFC.