DOHA: Qatar’s third-largest lender, Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ), is considering borrowing money on the Taiwanese bond market, its group chief executive told Reuters, as a crisis in the region makes it harder to raise funds.
The plan to tap Asian markets is because Qatari banks have been locked out of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain since those Arab countries cut diplomatic and economic ties with Doha in June.
The Saudi-led bloc accuses Qatar of supporting terrorism, a charge denied by Doha. Deposits in Qatari banks from the four Arab countries have been withdrawn and Qatari banks are no longer able to raise funding there.
CBQ could tap the Taiwan’s Formosa bond market “in the next few months”, depending on appetite, Group Chief Executive Joseph Abraham told Reuters in Doha. He said that $250 million would be the minimum the bank would be interested in raising and the move would give comfort to investors.
“This, to me, is just showing that we are tapping into the international markets as we did always, so that again gives them comfort the business is running as usual,” Abraham said. Formosa bonds are sold in Taiwan by foreign issuers and denominated in currencies other than the Taiwanese dollar.
The Gulf crisis is the region’s worst political dispute for several years and has caused unease among some international financial institutions. In Europe, most have taken a wait-and-see approach.
