Rashid Al Mansoori, new Qatar Exchange CEO

Besides 18 months experience as deputy CEO at QE, Al Mansoori is also is on QE’s board. He holds a BSc degree in computer and management sciences and was the information technology (IT) director at the Qatar Investment Authority, where he set up the IT department and electronic financial systems. Mansoori was also the IT director at the Qatar Olympics Committee and has worked in top-level positions in the Qatari public and hydrocarbons sectors.
“It is an honour for me to be appointed the CEO of the Qatar Exchange, Al Mansoori told TheEDGE. “My appointment comes in line with the general policy of the State of Qatar in terms of appointing highly-qualified Qataris in leading positions in government and semi government institutions.”
One of Al Mansoori’s first tasks as new CEO was in making a keynote speech at the MEED Banking Summit in Doha recently. Here he discussed the growth of the Doha bourse, both in terms of further international and regional investment and more local firms listing. “The reality, however, is that IPOs are highly sensitive to external factors, principally market conditions and company readiness, neither of which any exchange can directly control,” Al Mansoori said at the event.
On the subject of the long-anticipated MSCI upgrade of the exchange from ‘frontier’ to ‘emerging’ status, Al Mansoori told TheEDGE. “With regards to MSCI, the situation remains the same: we have ticked all the required boxes. It is now up to listed companies to review increasing their foreign ownership issues (FOI) before the next review in June, 2012. Until then, we remain committed to working on the FOI issue with listed companies.”