DOHA: Qatar National Bank (QNB) Group announced that ANZ, Barclays Bank PLC, Credit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank, ING, QNB Capital LLC and Standard Chartered Bank have been mandated to arrange a benchmark-sized USD-denominated Regulation S Registered bond on behalf of QNB Group.[the_ad id=”31605″]The new bond will be of benchmark size – which generally means upwards of USD 500 million. “A USD benchmark Reg S offering under its Euro Medium Term Note Programme may follow subject to market conditions,” a notification issued to Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) noted.

QNB is an active debt issuer and has widened its funding sources over the past two years, partly because of Qatar’s regional dispute, opting for private placements in different currencies.

Qatar National Bank (QNB) is the largest lender by assets in the Middle East and Africa. The planned bond issue would be QNB’s first public dollar bond transaction in more than two years and its first since a political dispute erupted in 2017 between Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.

It may be mentioned here that Qatari banks were considering issuing U.S. dollar bonds, hoping to take advantage of an easing in global volatility.