The Qatar Financial Centre Authority has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with R3 to support the development of Qatar’s financial technologies. As part of this agreement, the QFC and R3 will work together to create a potential lab environment that can address the needs of commercial banks and fintechs in Qatar.

The collaboration will also involve the promotion of educational initiatives and training on asset digitisation and the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT). In addition, the two entities will also create working groups to observe new and emerging regulatory trends and support the QFC's deployment of DLT at a national level. The Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) represents the legal and tax branch of the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), which is an onshore financial and business centre in the region.

R3 is a global provider of enterprise distributed ledger technology (DLT) and services. Specifically, R3 provides multi-party solutions that deliver digital trust in a bid to provide more potential for regulated businesses around the globe. One of R3’s most important products is Corda, which is the world’s first native private, permissioned DLT platform that is secure and regulatory-compliant by design.

According to R3, this platform has facilitated hundreds of networks across financial services. Regarding the partnership with R3, QFC officials expressed their eagerness to explore opportunities that will contribute to the growth and success of the financial technology industry in Qatar. They also revealed that this collaboration aims to support innovation and create an environment that supports the growth of fintech companies in Qatar.

R3 representatives highlighted their willingness to work with QFC to promote initiatives around asset digitalization and DLT while using their experience and expertise to support the growth of Qatar-based fintech companies. Other recent developments from R3 In April 2023, the Central Bank of the UAE launched its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Implementation Strategy in collaboration with R3, G42 Cloud and Clifford Chance. R3 and G42 Cloud have been selected as the technology and infrastructure providers of the first phase of the initiative, while Clifford Chance will provide critical legal oversight for the strategy.

The strategy, which represents one of nine initiatives in the CBUAE’s Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) Programme, sets out a roadmap for applying CBDC across a range of domestic and cross-border use cases in the region. The technological support of R3 will enable CBUAE to ensure the readiness of the UAE for the potential future tokenisation of financial and non-financial activities, in addition to the digitalisation of other financial services. .