International Financial Services (Qatar) has incurred the wrath of its local regulator, the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, for the second time in less than a month.
As reported by International Adviser, the regulator confirmed on Monday that IFSQ had been prohibited from “conducting business or providing services to any new customer” on 17 September.
In an update on Tuesday, however, the QFC Regulatory Authority added that it taking further action by issuing a second supervisory notice requiring IFSQ to “take immediate steps to rectify various rule breaches”.
The second notice “maintains the current prohibition on IFSQ’s conduct of new business and also prohibits IFSQ from transferring any customer to another insurance intermediary without the approval of the Regulatory Authority”, it added.
Additionally, the company must “advise all customers that they should contact their insurance policy provider directly, rather than contacting IFSQ, if they require any information or assistance with respect to their policies”.
“The Regulatory Authority has issued these supervisory notices because IFSQ has failed to comply with its regulatory obligations in a satisfactory manner,” the QFC watchdog added.
Not to be confused with…
IFSQ had a sister company in Singapore, under separate management, which had its licence cancelled by the local regulator.
Another business based in Hong Kong, also called IFS, is not connected to either the Singapore or Qatar-based companies.
