Kathmandu, December 19

Doha Bank, one of the largest commercial banks in Qatar, has opened its liaison office in Nepal as per the permission granted by the central bank about six months ago.

The liaison office began its operation from today.

“Doha Bank’s entry into Nepal will prove crucial to enhance bilateral, commercial and investment relationship between Nepal and Qatar,” said Doha Bank CEO R Seetharaman. “Doha Bank intends to enhance commerce and trade relationship between Nepal and Qatar and foster investment partnership with Nepali financial institutions basically in hydropower, agriculture and tourism.”

The liaison office intends to facilitate the flow of workers’ remittance from Qatar to Nepal. Doha Bank has already started partnering with Nepali banks and financial institutions to facilitate Nepalis working in Qatar to send money home. “With our support, Nepali workers in Qatar can gain better benefits from local banks in terms of interest rate and credit acquisition,” said officials of Doha Bank.

Doha Bank has said it can also become a gateway for Nepali banks to penetrate high growth markets in the Gulf region. “The representative office will closely work with Nepali financial institutions and business communities to enable them to reach out to high potential Gulf and Indian markets,” said Seetharaman. “We believe financial institutions in Nepal will be better served as a result of the establishment of Doha Bank’s representative office here,” said the bank in a statement issued today.

The representative office will also analyse the trend of the Nepali financial market and the economy.

Doha Bank is the third largest conventional bank by assets in Qatar and has one of the largest international networks among Qatari banks. The bank has branch offices in the UAE, Kuwait and India and representative offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Singapore, China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Bangladesh and the latest one in Nepal.