All About Al Masar  

• Financial sector Master’s degree programme
• Secondary schools partnership
• Al Masar Scholarship
• Internships for university and high school students
• Secondment programme

Developing Human Capital

The finance sector is a key area of focus for Qatar, with the State’s regulators playing an important role in the industry’s development. Working hand in hand with this National Vision is the Second Strategic Plan for Financial Sector Regulation 2017-2022, a shared strategy developed by the Qatar Central Bank, the Qatar Financial Markets Authority and the Regulatory Authority. The Strategic Plan serves as a roadmap to navigate the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead to 2022.

In terms of employment, our strategic direction is clear: the sustainable, long-term development of young Qataris into dedicated professionals and leaders for the Regulatory Authority is of paramount importance.     

Creating a Legacy of Financial Regulation for Qatar 

Enrich Engage Envision

Say hello to our C.O.O.

“At the QFC Regulatory Authority, we are intent upon offering our employees a dynamic and professional work environment, one that attracts experienced professionals from Qatar and across the globe. We are equally committed to building a sustainable workforce through the employment and development of qualified Qataris who will shape the future of financial services in the country.”

Eisa Abdulla, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Corporate Services

Follow Al Masar to your future

What We Do

As the regulator of financial firms authorised to conduct business within the Qatar Financial Centre, the QFC Regulatory Authority plays an important role in modeling the highest standards of ethics, education and professionalism in the financial sector. 

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Future Leader

The core business roles of the Regulatory Authority are in the fields of Authorisation, Supervision, Policy, Legislative Counsel and Enforcement. Our team of financial regulators is tops in these fields, with extensive experience working in financial centres from London to Dubai to Hong Kong to Sydney, among others. With these experts in your corner, you’ll be mentored by the best and the brightest in the industry.  

The Legacy

Our ultimate goal is to build a legacy of financial regulators for the State of Qatar. As part of this process, we seek out the best candidates in the market, with our national talent at the core of our development plans. 

 The Path to Your Future

As Qatar makes its vision tangible to all of us, so we hope to spark the same process here at the Regulatory Authority with you and your career. Al Masar, or The Path, is a programme envisioned to take you step by step through five stages of professional growth and development, each carefully charted and brought to life with professional training, coaching and staff mentoring. 

Think You’ve Got What it Takes to be an Al Masar Graduate?  

 We’re looking for:

• Qatari Nationals
• GPA 3.0 or above 
• Graduates in disciplines such as Law, Finance, and Economics 
• English language IELTS 5.5 or above. 

 Your Future Starts Here

To apply to be an Al Masar graduate, send us your C.V. or feel free to contact our friendly Nationalisation team: nationalisation@qfcra.com

Click here for more information. 

 The custom programme guides Qatari employees through five developmental stages, brought to life with defined competencies, professional training, coaching, seminars and staff mentoring. 

The experience is self-driven, with the employee moving through core skills function rotation, work-based assignments and professional certificates, international assignment and local secondments, a master’s or advanced degree relevant to Regulatory Authority subject matter, and leadership preparation. Employees have customised individual development plans to help them achieve their goals.

Box: HR MENA Excellence Award Winner, 2017

In May 2017, Al Masar received the top award in the “Best Nationalisation Initiative” category from the HR MENA Excellence Awards. This honour confirmed the leading-edge strategy and innovative, comprehensive approach to nationalisation, and quantifiable results of the programme on a regional basis.  

Al Masar Secondment Programme

In 2016, the Regulatory Authority partnered with PricewaterhouseCoopers to help develop new leaders. As a result, Qatari employees at the Regulatory Authority have an unusual support mechanism in place by which to drive their own career development – the opportunity for local, regional and international secondment during the third phase of Al Masar.  

Master’s degree in Financial Regulation and Leadership

In 2016, to support and build future Qatari regulatory leaders, the Regulatory Authority partnered with the Qatar Central Bank and the Qatar Financial Markets Authority to build a customised master’s degree programme to develop employees of the three organisations.

 HEC Paris, ranked one of the world’s leading providers of Executive Education by the Financial Times, was selected from a pool of educational providers.   

Programme development commenced in 2017, as well as a rigorous selection process. The second phase of interviews was conducted in June with students presenting case studies to the HEC admissions panel, which then selected final candidates. 

The first day of classes commenced 5 November 2017. The inaugural Class of 2019 includes three students employed by the Regulatory Authority, in Insurance Supervision and Bank Supervision.  

Pull-quote: The custom master’s degree programme for financial regulators is the first of its kind in the region, and one of only a handful worldwide

Promoting Careers in Financial Regulation in Secondary Schools

The Al Masar strategy calls for the Regulatory Authority to reach out to secondary school students in Qatar to acquaint them with career possibilities in Qatar’s financial sector. To that end, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with two unique secondary schools on 23 March 2017.

The Qatar Banking Studies and Business Administration Independent Secondary School for Boys (QBSBAS) and the companion School for Girls are a joint initiative of the Qatar Central Bank and the Ministry of Education. The schools provide a specialised education to prepare 80 students in grades 10-12 for careers in financial institutions including banks, financial services companies, the stock exchange and financial regulation. 

Under the agreement, we provide summer internships for select QBSBAS students; host seminars on Qatar’s financial policies and regulations at the schools; bring students to the Regulatory Authority on a regular basis for informal familiarisation meetings with Qatari employees from the core business areas; and recruit qualified students for our Al Masar Scholarship programme. 

Al Masar Scholarship:  Banking on the Future

To create a talent pipeline of future financial regulators for the next decade, we worked with the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs to develop the Al Masar Scholarship for high school students interested in careers in the finance sector.

The Al Masar Scholarship was announced in the fall of 2017 to students of the two secondary banking schools, with the official launch of the programme, and first two scholarship recipients, in September 2018.

Internships for university and high school students

The Regulatory Authority offers internship opportunities to high-performing high school, university and post-graduate students to work in a professional environment while they are still working on their degrees.

We work closely with Qatar University’s Faculty of Law, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), other Qatar Foundation universities, and Qatari high schools to recruit motivated young people who are interested in careers in the financial regulation sector.       

If you’d like to be considered for a QFC Regulatory Authority internship, please send us your CV via nationalisation@qfcra.com