Page 74 - Annual Report 2016 EN

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POLICY AND ENFORCEMENT

Regulatory policy initiatives

The key focus of work for the Policy and Legislative Counsel depart-
ments of the Regulatory Authority in 2016 was to introduce a retail
property fund framework under its collective investment schemes
rules. Other policy work included the continued development and
upgrade of the prudential framework (securitisation) for conven-
tional and Islamic banks.

Retail property funds

The QFC collective investment scheme framework was initially
released in 2010 and contained both the Collective Investment
Schemes Rules 2010 (COLL) and the Private Placement Schemes
Rules 2010 (PRIV). At that time, a framework for retail investors to
invest in property funds was not adopted based on a lack of market
demand for retail real estate funds.
More recently, signalling a change in market interest, the Regu-
latory Authority received requests from industry practitioners to
consider the feasibility of allowing retail investors access to real
estate funds. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) and company
funds were of particular interest.
In response, the Regulatory Authority undertook analysis of the reg-
ulatory issues and experiences of real estate funds in a number
of major financial markets. The Regulatory Authority concluded
that real estate funds were commonly available to retail investors
in many jurisdictions and commenced the design of rules within
COLL which would achieve appropriate protection for retail inves-
tors through alignment with international and regional benchmarks.
Following public consultation, the revised COLL rules were approved
and came into force in September 2016. The revised rules allow
retail investors access to a wider pool of investment products in the
Qatar Financial Centre. In light of this product expansion, the rules
achieve appropriate protections for retail investors through systems
and control requirements for funds in key areas such as limits on
investments and borrowing, custody arrangements and valuation.