The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), a leading onshore financial and business centre in the region, has launched the ‘QFC Tech Talk Series’, to encourage financial technology (FinTech) firms, experts and innovators from across Qatar’s digital innovation ecosystem to share ideas, network and explore opportunities spanning different verticals.

The inaugural episode of the ‘QFC Tech Talk Series’ featured Marwan Mahmoud, Founding Member, Doha Tech Angels, who shed light on the current FinTech investment climate in Qatar and beyond. His talk gave participants a vital economic overview of Qatar’s FinTech space, including investors’ expectations, and also the state of research and development in financial institutions. He touched on intellectual property transfer and monetisation, next-generation transactions and the blockchain phenomena, social media convergence and microfinance, in addition to highlighting aspects of cybersecurity, trust and regulation. 

Hoogendoorn added: “Complementing our attractive package of incentives and benefits for FinTech companies looking to set up at the QFC, we waive the application fee of USD 5,000 and also the first-year annual registration fee of USD 5,000 for qualified FinTech companies. Most importantly, through our upcoming launch of the QFC FinTech Circle, we will provide shared workspace and a registration address on our FinTech floor, rent-free for the first 12 months, for qualified firms.”