Qatar

Qatar National Bank has signed a $3.5bn loan with 21 international banks, showing that banks' jitters about supporting Qatari entities in the wake of the dispute between the sultanate and six other Arab states have partly been assuaged.

Qatar National Bank is expected to increase its loan to around $3.25bn, after it received commitments exceeding its launch amount.

Two days after locking in a $1bn private placement, Qatar National Bank has sold a second two year floating rate note, this time for $1.38bn.

Qatar National Bank has added to its run of funding with a $1bn two year private placement, according to sources.

Qatar National Bank is expected to sign its $3bn loan refinancing in the first week of February, according to a source close to the deal.

Qatar National Bank (QNB) launched a $3bn loan on Monday, the first real test of the market since Qatar’s Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) neighbours severed diplomatic ties with the sovereign. Nine banks have agreed to underwrite the full amount ahead of general syndication, showing initial fears have subsided. But the test is not over — will Qatar’s other relationship banks step up?

Two banks from the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) have turned to Taiwan to raise dollar funding already this year, with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) printing $540m and Qatar National Bank (QNB) printing $720m in Formosa trades.

Qatar National Bank has launched a $3bn loan with nine banks underwriting the facility.

Qatar’s Doha Bank extended a $575m loan that was scheduled to mature at the end of last year but it did not extend the whole amount as the deal's Chinese lenders pulled out.

UK and Chinese officials press ahead with London-Shanghai Stock Connect, China tops the October league table of foreign holders of US Treasuries, and Bank of China opens a new branch in Qatar.

Qatar National Bank has received interest from its relationship banks as well as new lenders from outside the Middle East for a loan refinancing, showing international lenders are no longer afraid of publicly showing their support for Qatari entities six months after its Gulf Cooperation Council neighbours severed ties with the nation.

Qatar’s banks have been turning to collateralised borrowing to boost liquidity after being all but shut out of the public debt markets since June, and the deals are proving mutually beneficial to both lender and borrower, with international banks able to continue to show support for Qatar.