Qatari influencer and the Founder and CEO of I Love Qatar, Khalifa Al Haroon.
Investing in the Al Rayan Qatar ETF (QATR), which is also the world’s largest Shariah-compliant equity Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), is a lot easier than it sounds, that even novice investors who are just beginning to explore the stock market can easily relate to, according to investment experts who talked about the fund at the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) hosted webinar held in Doha recently.
Mohsin Mujtaba, Director of Product & Market Development at Qatar Stock Exchange
According to Mohsin Mujtaba, Director of Product & Market Development at QSE, the QATR, which is listed on the QSE, offers a combination of stable income from large cap stocks as well as the growth and momentum of small and medium-sized companies.
“The ETF tracks the QE Al Rayan Islamic Index and enables investors to efficiently invest in a portfolio of 22 Shariah-compliant, Qatari companies in one trade. So far in 2020, despite a very difficult year for markets, returns of the index and ETF are positive and significantly outperforming the conventional benchmark. Qatar’s economy is undergoing an enormous transformation to overcome the weakness of the global economic environment but also prepare itself for 2022.
This poses challenges while also offering abundant opportunities for investors,” Mujtaba added.
Akber Khan, Senior Director of Al Rayan Investment
Speaking during the event, Senior Director of Al Rayan Investment, Akber Khan, narrated how the QATR was finally launched in 2018.
“It was a long educational process, and now it is the largest Shariah-compliant equity ETF in the world. And that’s an achievement for all of us in Qatar. When you buy the QATR, you will get the performance of the index. It also offers the opportunity to receive dividend income twice, while offering growth in long term and protection in down markets,” he said.
Khan added that the QE Al Rayan Islamic Index has been up by 25 percent since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 as a pandemic in March. He went on to highlight the booming global ETF industry which is now estimated at $7 trillion. Only 15 years ago, global ETF industry was estimated to be worth around $500bn, and increased to $1 trillion in 2009.
“During the last 15 months, we’ve had inflows into ETFs globally even during the pandemic. The reason why the ETFs have taken the investment industry by storm, is because they have taken the investors by storm. Because you as an investor when you buy an ETF you know exactly the value of your fund's investment. It’s easy, cheap, convenient and it’s transparent, because you know exactly what fund you’re investing in. These are all the attributes which have made it very successful for both the individual and institutional investors,” Khan added.
During the webinar, popular Qatari influencer and the Founder and CEO of I Love Qatar, Khalifa Al Haroon, shared his experiences in investing in Qatar’s stock market. An experienced investor himself, Al Haroon talked about how he started his investment journey with a QR1,000.
He said: “I don’t trade based on trends alone. I invest in businesses I know I am a part of. When investing in the stock market, there are no guarantees. What you can do is you can just reduce the risk as much as possible. And the QATR is a much simpler option.
“At the end of the day, whether you set up your own business, whether you invest in a startup, or decide you want to invest in an exchange or ETF, there are so many options avaiable for people to generate income and just invest in general. Whatever pattern you choose, choose something that you are interested in and you are passionate about. Something that you are going to be comfortable with. I just want to encourage people to invest. A lot of people, they only sit on their money. And if the money is just withering away in the bank account, might as well invest it like your money works for you,” Al Haroon added
