Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) paired a $20 billion global investment partnership with JP Morgan Asset Management with a reorganisation of its domestic holdings. The JP Morgan agreement spans global equities and private credit, while the new Doha Investment platform will manage about 45 state owned companies representing roughly a third of QIA’s assets. Monetary tightening and financial resilience shaped developments elsewhere in the Gulf. The Saudi Central Bank, Central Bank of the UAE, Central Bank of Oman and Qatar Central Bank raised key rates by 25 basis points, while the Central Bank of Kuwait held steady. Saudi Arabia expanded financing for suppliers and SMEs, and AWS’s recovery difficulties in Bahrain and the UAE exposed operational risks for regional banks. Read more on the week’s key developments: 1. JP Morgan Asset Management secures $15 billion global equities mandate from QIA QIA and JP Morgan Asset Management announced on 21 September a memorandum of understanding to establish a $20 billion strategic investment partnership across public and private markets. JP Morgan Asset Management will manage customised global equity portfolios worth $15 billion for QIA. The remaining $5 billion will provide senior financing to established US middle market companies in industrials, services, healthcare and technology. The allocation is one of QIA’s largest disclosed mandates to a global asset manager and gives private credit a sizeable role in the relationship. It follows the sovereign wealth fund’s $25 billion investment partnership with Goldman Sachs, announced in January. The two agreements extend QIA’s use of large global managers across listed equities and private markets. 2. Gulf central banks raise rates after first Fed increase since 2023 The Saudi Central Bank raised its repo and reverse repo rates by 25 basis points to 4.50% and 4.00%, respectively. The Central Bank of the UAE increased the base rate on its Overnight Deposit Facility from 3.65% to 3.90%, while the Central Bank of Oman raised its repo rate from 4.25% to 4.50%. Qatar Central Bank also increased its key policy rates by 25 basis points. The moves followed the US Federal Reserve’s first rate increase in more than three years. Most GCC monetary policy remains closely tied to the US interest rate cycle through dollar pegs. Banks may benefit as loan yields rise, although institutions that rely more heavily on wholesale funding could face faster increases in funding costs. Kuwait held its discount rate at 3.5%. The dinar’s link to a currency basket gives the Central Bank of Kuwait greater scope to respond to domestic conditions. 3. PIF launches Tawrid supply chain financing platform Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced on 20 September the launch of Tawrid Company for Financing Solutions, a digital supply chain finance platform. Tawrid has permission from the Saudi Central Bank to operate in its regulatory sandbox and has begun operations. It connects buyers, suppliers and funders and offers early settlement against approved invoices. The platform has signed binding agreements with Gulf International Bank, Saudi National Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, ROSHN Group and Nesma & Partners. PIF’s portfolio gives Tawrid access to an established network of large buyers, contractors and suppliers. Participating banks gain another channel for working capital finance, while suppliers can receive payment earlier on approved invoices. Tawrid remains under regulatory testing, so its reach will initially reflect the financing volumes and supplier participation achieved within this network. 4. QIA consolidates domestic holdings under Doha Investment QIA announced on 20 September the launch of Doha Investment, a wholly owned platform that will manage and develop its domestic portfolio. The portfolio comprises about 45 state owned companies, including QNB Group, Qatar Airways Group, Ooredoo Group, Qatari Diar, Katara Hospitality and Hassad Food. The holdings account for about a third of QIA’s assets and span financial services, transport and logistics, telecommunications and technology, real estate, hospitality, food and agriculture. Doha Investment centralises oversight of a large group of existing domestic holdings under a dedicated manager. Its mandate covers portfolio performance, the development of national champions, privatisation, private sector participation and deeper domestic capital markets. The structure also gives QIA a clearer separation between its domestic development role and its international investment activities. 5. AWS says some Bahrain and UAE cloud resources cannot be restored Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on 15 September that it could not restore access to resources and data held exclusively in its Bahrain region and in one of the UAE region’s three availability zones, mec1-az2. The facilities were damaged during regional attacks earlier in 2026. AWS said the damage in Bahrain affected multiple availability zones and exceeded the conditions its regional services were designed to withstand. It is helping customers re-establish operations in other regions and continues to work on the remaining UAE infrastructure. The loss of access across multiple availability zones challenges a central assumption of cloud resilience: that distributing workloads within one region provides sufficient protection. Earlier outages affected some banking operations, according to Reuters. Gulf banks may need to place greater emphasis on recovery across regions, portable backups and exposure to individual technology providers. The unrecoverable resources were those that had not been migrated or backed up elsewhere. 6. Monsha’at and STC Bank agree SAR 5 billion portfolio for SME financing Saudi Arabia’s Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, Monsha’at, and STC Bank signed an agreement on 17 September to provide Shariah compliant financing through a portfolio of up to SAR 5 billion ($1.33 billion). The programme covers working capital, capital expenditure and other business needs, using digital financing products to widen access for micro, small and medium sized enterprises. The agreement moves STC Bank further into business finance after its establishment as a digital bank. The SAR 5 billion figure represents the portfolio’s maximum capacity, with actual lending shaped by demand, pricing and approval criteria. Its digital distribution could help Monsha’at extend formal financing to smaller businesses that remain difficult or costly to serve through conventional channels. 7. UAE opens second retail T-Sukuk with a tenor of five years The UAE Ministry of Finance announced on 17 September the second issuance under its Sovereign Retail T-Sukuk Programme, with a tenor of five years and a minimum subscription of AED 1,000 ($272). Subscription opens on 23 September and closes on 28 September. Emirates NBD is the lead receiving bank. Emirates Islamic, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Ajman Bank, Mashreq, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank are also participating. The sukuk will be listed on Nasdaq Dubai after allocation and settlement. The inaugural offering attracted AED 445 million ($121 million) of orders against an initial target of AED 50 million ($13.6 million), prompting the government to increase the issue to AED 100 million ($27.2 million). The new tenor extends the programme beyond the first issue’s two year maturity and asks retail investors to commit funds for longer. The profit rate and subsequent trading on Nasdaq Dubai will influence demand and liquidity. 8. Qatar and Saudi Arabia connect Himyan and mada card schemes Qatar Central Bank and the Saudi Central Bank announced on 15 September the first live transaction linking Qatar’s Himyan national payment card with Saudi Arabia’s mada network. The transaction followed the completion of technical and operational integration. Reciprocal acceptance will be introduced in phases across both markets. The transaction puts the connection between the two national card schemes into live use. It also complements Qatar’s participation in AFAQ, the GCC real time gross settlement system, by extending regional payment integration to retail cards. Wider merchant acceptance and issuer participation would give travellers and merchants a regional payment option built around the two domestic networks. 9. Saudi fintech barq raises $329.5 million at $1.85 billion valuation Saudi digital payments company barq closed a $329.5 million Series A round that valued it at $1.85 billion after the investment. Investors included Noon Investments, Sohar International Bank and M20 Fund. Founded in 2023 and licensed by the Saudi Central Bank in January 2024, barq provides consumer and merchant payment services through its digital platform. The size of the round gives barq substantial capital to develop products and expand beyond Saudi Arabia. Its valuation also raises expectations for revenue growth, active customer use and sustainable unit economics. Sohar International Bank brings a strategic banking investor to the shareholder base and could support barq’s expansion into other Gulf markets. 10. Kuwait reports stronger deposit growth while holding rates The Central Bank of Kuwait said on 16 September that resident deposits at local banks increased 9.8% year on year in July 2026. Credit facilities to residents grew 4.8%, while broad money supply increased 1.9%. The central bank maintained its discount rate at 3.5% and said it would continue to monitor global monetary, economic and geopolitical developments. Deposit growth at more than twice the pace of credit expansion supports the banking system’s aggregate funding position, although conditions may differ across institutions and deposit categories. Kuwait’s currency basket also gives its central bank more policy flexibility than GCC states with direct dollar pegs. This combination helps explain why it held rates as its regional peers followed the Federal Reserve. What to watch The Central Bank of Egypt Monetary Policy Committee meeting on 24 September; the Central Bank of Türkiye meeting on 22 October; and the US Federal Reserve meeting on 27–28 October.
