Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

Hi, I'm just about to move to Qatar from UK and I will need to have a local bank account in Doha for current account and credit card and then to make transfers to an offshore savings account.
Anyone have any advice on which bank or banks to use?
I thought HSBC was going to be the solution but HSBC International view the Doha HSBC as 3rd Party Banking and unless I'm reading their website wrongly their Jersey interest rates for savings look rather low. Maybe they're competitive?? I'm new to all this.

Thanks

Steve

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

Have a look the following banks in Doha.

http://www.qnb.com.qa/english/
http://www.cbq.com.qa/
http://www.mashreqbank.com.qa/
http://www.ahlibank.com.qa/
http://www.ibq.com.qa/output/Page2.asp

No CITIBANK in Doha.
http://www.standardchartered.com/qa/index.html

I have an account in HSBC Doha, their relationship manager is quite good.

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

Thanks Mariah.
I used Standard Chartered when I worked in Dubai, but I was a Conoco expat paid in Sterling and my pay went straight to Jersey.
Steve

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

Thanks Mariah,

I see from your profile that you scuba dive, are there many dive clubs, is it easy to join?

I'm into sailing, do you know if the Sailing club is active?

Steve

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

Hi,

Well, I tried to dive in Doha before. But it seems not so popular here. I don’t want to dive alone here (I don’t have any husband and kids). So I gave up dive here.

Pearl Divers S-2067
Farig Al Nasser Street
Doha
QATAR
Ph.: (974) 4449553
Fax: (974) 4358968
http://www.scubalatif.com/

My suggestion is diving in Muscat (Oman)
You have to fly from Thursday afternoon, then fly back on Sat. afternoon (if you want to dive just Friday) or fly back on Sunday early morning (if you want to dive Friday & Sat.).

However, I 100% guaranteed that diving Muscat is superb!! Water is clear, fish everywhere, they make traffic jam under the water, turtles flying, lobsters (my dinner!!) walking, big sting lays suddenly appear, and dolphins stopping and seeing us and so on.

I usually fly to Muscat for a weekend diving once a month, almost every month except winter.

http://www.global-scuba.com/
Tel/Fax: + 968. 2469 2346
GSM + 968. 9931 7518

Monique (Belgian), Keith (British), and their son Yannick is running a scuba dive centre. They are so friendly, and I’m their favour customer (??)

Regarding sailing club in Doha, I don’t know it very well.
http://www.middleeasthub.com/qatar/t...o/sailing.html
I hope this link will help you.

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

Hi

I set up an HSBC account in the UK in readiness for coming out here .. their Indian based customer services centre is bloody awful.

I am not a PR here so can't have a bank account but we assumed HSBC would be the easier option for him and we couldn't so much as open a deposit account as he is paid in dollars into the US.

The whole experience was a god dam nightmare, utterly inflexible and quite ignorant to boot. It took HSBC three days to tell us we couldn't have what QNB set up for us in 20 minutes.

Just some anecdotal evidence for you from another point of view.

The dive club in Doha is BSAC, some nice guys belong, not much diving to be had in Qatar and the jelly fish and oil just make a poor experience worse, they do international trips once or twice a year. I agree Oman is definitely the best local option, although not far (relatively speaking) it's very difficult to get up to the red sea for short breaks.

There is talk of setting up a PADI group at Garveys. I hope it takes off.

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

[QUOTE=Tootsie Frickensprinkles;5394153]Hi

I set up an HSBC account in the UK in readiness for coming out here .. their Indian based customer services centre is bloody awful.

I am not a PR here so can't have a bank account but we assumed HSBC would be the easier option for him and we couldn't so much as open a deposit account as he is paid in dollars into the US.

The whole experience was a god dam nightmare, utterly inflexible and quite ignorant to boot. It took HSBC three days to tell us we couldn't have what QNB set up for us in 20 minutes.

I agree, bloody awful. But, not only banks. The most of business operation is dominated by Asian migrant wokers. That's far away from ISO standard :lol:

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

[QUOTE=Mariah;5396530]Aye, it doesnt make life easy does it .. =)

Welcome to BE btw, have you been in Doha long?

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

No, not so long. about one and half year, I have been living in Doha.
I upset everyday for the first few month. People don't know how to speak in the office or how to communicate with female boss or don't say " Yes, please, and thank you" :blink: But I don't upset anymore, well, lets say I don't care :lol:

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

Hi all,

Roughly, how much does it cost to do weekend trips to Muscat or Dubai or Abu Dhabi?

I need to buy a laptop for my son, will it be cheaper to buy in Doha or should I get it in UK?

Is it safe to buy a used car in Doha, one that's say 1 or 2 years old, or is it best to buy new? You often see ads saying accident free...... is it possible to check this out?

Thanks

Steve

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

Your choice of cutting edge tech will be far greater in the UK. We have high spec gaming PCs and Dell laptops and we ship everything in from the States. Price wise - even given the weak dollar I doubt very much you will find anything remotely up to date cheaper than you could have in the UK.

Modern Home, Jarir bookstore, a shop on the bottom floor of Citi Centre Mall and Carrefour seem to be the biggest stockists of PC, Audio and Visual. Local shops still sell casette and VHS tapes to give you some context. There is a fairly new Virgin store I have not been to yet.

Depedning on who you fly tickets will cost anything 600-1400 QR for local flights, Air Arabia can drop you in Sharjah for as little as 550 sometimes. Etihad and Oman Air are not as dear as QA but QA has by far the most flexibility with flight times. I use Emirates to DbX and in and out of the region. On the basis of price and personal issues I will avoid QA.

Best not to ask me about buying cars right now ... our flatmate had an Egyptian run in the back of him three days before he left that we had just bought the car off him!!

There is a lot of expat car selling, by in large cars get a lot of superficial damage here, I've never heard of serious accidents being repaired in the whole cut and shut type scenario. No car can be repaired without a police report being filed and submitted to the workshop. Whether there is some form of publically accesssible DB that keeps this info I really dont know though. Best to ask that one on QL.

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

Yes, there are many things best let slide or else go mad ;)

Re: Banking in Qatar and Offshore
 

Virgin Mega store in Villagio, they are selling varies PC. But I think their price is a bit higher than others somehow.

I use Qatar Airways for flying to Muscat, Emirates for Dubai. Yes, their time table is much flexible than others, and they give us E-ticket. DOH – MCT – DOH cost around QR1500 per person, DOH – DXB – DOH cost around QR1150 per person. Just fly one hour and fifteen minutes to Muscat, one hour to Dubai. Sounds like fly to Paris or Amsterdam from LHR, aren’t they?

Five stars Hotel in Muscat and Dubai is US$200 -300 per night. I usually stay at InterCon Muscat or Grand Hyatt for diving. Finally The Chedi opens from the begging of Sept, due to damage by Gonu. Shangri La's Barr Al Jissah Resort & SPA is far away from dive centre and Seeb airport.

=> http://www.travonline.com/index.aspx

If you buy a second hand car from your friends would be fine. But my boss doesn’t recommend me buying second car because Qatari don’t care their car so much. I don’t know it’s true or not. I didn’t have any choice for my car because it’s a company car. I want to a new Land Cruiser for driving in the desert!!