First: Remittances

1- Remittances Drawn on Unlicensed Exchangers: Some exchange houses issue remittances drawn, directly, on exchangers who have no license to work in their countries, or indirectly through local and foreign exchangers.  This is considered a breach of articles (1) and (2) of the law No.(36) of year 1995, regulating the money changing business and that limited the issue and the acceptance of personal remittances to the licensed correspondents.  

Therefore, all exchange houses have to abide to the following:

1.1-Never deal with any exchange company abroad before receiving the documents and licenses proving that this company is authorized by the competent authority in its country to practice the money changing business.

1.2-Never accept external remittances coming from exchange houses abroad not having a license from the competent authorities to practice the money changing business.

2- Covering Issued Remittances:

2.1-Some exchange houses do not cover the issued remittances.  This is considered an explicit breach of article (16) paragraph (5) of the law No.(36) of year 1995 regulating the money changing business, stating that the exchange houses should “Retain at all times with its correspondence inland and abroad or within their main offices a full cover against all transfers drawn on them.”.  This cover should be either in cash balance in the correspondents’ accounts, or as credit limits granted to the exchange houses.

All exchange houses have to abide to the provisions of the article above mentioned, keeping in mind that the QCB will apply to every breach the penalty stated in article (21) of the law No.(36) of year 1995, regulating the money changing business.

2.2-The total due balance of the exchange houses at one bank abroad Qatar should not exceed 40% of the capital and reserves of the exchange house at any time, whether they are covering remittances and cheques issued by the entity or any other balance.

3- Outstanding Unpaid Remittances: For control and internal regulation purposes, remittances of which validity exceeds one year, should be separated in a separate account.  This account should also be under the direct supervision of the general manager.

4- Remittances Via Fax: Some exchange houses make some remittances for their customers via fax, by preparing statements containing the amount of the remittance for every person, with his name and address.  These statements are sent via fax to the correspondent of these offices abroad to be settled, after being signed by the authorized person. Issuing or accepting any remittances via fax are to be stopped, unless every remittance has a Test Keys code, through Swift, or any other safe systems of remittance.

5- Remittances for Abroad:

5.1-Considering remittances issued for customers through fax or telex, and that have been canceled by the correspondents from whom they have been drawn, it is necessary to transfer the amount of these remittances from the accounts of the correspondents in the records of the exchange houses to a separate account in the general ledger.

5.2-It is necessary to mention the name of the correspondent, whether it is a bank or an exchange house, through which the remittance has been made on the receipt given to the customer.

6- Proving the Identification: When making a remittance transaction, the name of the remitter should be checked, through asking for an identification proof. If you have difficulties in having Ids of some customers, when representatives of the customers buy and sell foreign currencies or make remittances for abroad, the owner or manager of the entity has to make the remittance under his own responsibility by signing the remittance voucher and writing the name of the customer on every voucher.  

Second: Cheques and Travelers’ Cheques

1- Travelers’ Cheques: Please beware when dealing with travelers’ cheques holders, in order to avoid fraud crimes.  Call the investigation department when such cheques are detected.

2- The Acceptance of Post-dated Cheques: Some exchange houses accept post-dated cheques from some customers in order to settle their purchase of foreign currencies or travelers’ cheques or when issuing banking transfers to them.   This procedure is considered as granting credit facilities to them.  This is an explicit breach of paragraph (3) article (18) of Law No.(36) of year 1995, regulating the Money Changing Business.  

All exchange houses should stop such procedure with the necessity of proving the way of settling the sale of foreign currencies, travelers’ cheques or gold bullions in the receipts.  A fine will be imposed on the exchange houses that violate these instructions, conforming to article (21) of law No.(36) of 1995 regulating the Money Changing Business.

3- Cheques Sent for Collection: 

3.1-No exchange house is allowed to encash any cheque presented by its customers and drawn on their personal accounts at banks abroad, to be collected through their correspondents abroad, unless it receives a written confirmation from its correspondents stating that they have collected the amounts of these cheques and added them to its account with them.

3.2-No exchange house is allowed to suspend the amount of the cheques given to it for collection or the returned cheques in the cash account, until the cheques sent for collection are effectively collected, and until the owners of the returned cheques settle their amounts.  The QCB considers it necessary for the exchange house to follow these procedures:

3.2.1- Register the amounts of the cheques sent for collection as regular entry in the records of the exchange house, until the collection transaction is settled.

3.2.2- Suspend the amount of any returned cheques in the separate account of the general ledger, until their amount is settled.  

Third: Precious Metal Bullions

1- The crimes investigation department should be notified about any person suspected of offering gold bullions not ratified by the Ministry of Finance, Economics and Trade for sale.

2- The QCB confirms not having allowed the sale of any gold bullion to anyone without giving him a receipt.  

Fourth: Cash, Foreign Currencies and the Treasury

1- Transportation of Cash and Foreign Currencies

1.1-The QCB, in cooperation with the competent security bodies of the State, being concerned about providing all the adequate security conditions during the cash and foreign currencies transportation, to and from Qatar,

Asks all exchange houses operating in Qatar not to send or receive foreign currencies through Doha Airport or any land or sea accesses unless they call and coordinate first with the director of the Capital Police Department to ensure the necessary security during the transportation operation, avoiding by that the possibility of robbery.

1.2- In order to avoid any future misunderstanding, the director of the Capital Police Department should be provided with the names of the persons charged of transporting cash from abroad Qatar, from the QCB or vice versa. 

In the case of any change in the persons charged of the transportation, please notify the director of the Capital Police Department in writing.

2- Money Counterfeit

2.1- Documents of Purchasing or Importing Foreign Currencies in Cash:

All exchange houses have to beware when dealing with foreign currencies notes, by abiding to the following:

2.1.1- Bring the foreign currencies notes from reliable sources.

2.1.2- Provide a cash counterfeit detector to prevent any counterfeit notes.

2.1.3- Quickly notify the crimes investigation department and QCB in the case of detecting any counterfeit notes.

2.1.4- When purchasing or importing foreign currencies, all documents should be in a separate file, in order to be available for the QCB upon request.

2.2- The Money Counterfeit Detector:

All exchange houses have to abide to the following:

2.2.1- Possess a money counterfeit detector with all the advanced technical specifications, in order to limit the infiltration of imitation money to the country:

The device No. 2520SD/UV/MG, exposed by DE LA RUE SYSTEM LIMITED, has good specifications that are appropriate to the work nature at exchange houses.

2.2.2- Prepare and develop the skills of the employees who deal directly with cash money, through organizing training sessions related to counterfeit.

2.2.3- Warn the employees that deal with cash exchange to be cautious considering the fulfillment of the specifications of the cash in circulation.

2.2.4- The necessity of owning cash counting machines with the following specifications: SSD, UV, MG.

2.2.5- Money counting machines have to be ON during the official working hours.

3- Receipts of Selling and Purchasing Currencies: All exchange houses have to issue a receipt of every dealing, whether it is of sale or purchase and whether the customer asks for it or not.  Keeping in mind that the QCB will impose a money penalty on everyone who violates these instructions, conforming to the provisions of article No.(21) of the law (36) of year 1995, regulating the Money Changing Business.

4- Insuring Cash and Precious Metals: Considering the importance of insurance in preserving the money of the exchange houses, and in order to limit the risks to which it might be exposed; conforming to article (11) of the law No.(36) of year 1995, regulating the Money Changing Business, all exchange houses have to abide to insuring money in the kinds of insurance below mentioned, as long as the insurance policy value covers the amount of money and precious metals that is being kept, and the volume of cash dealings made when selling and purchasing foreign currencies.  

Insurance on cash money and precious metals have to be for the following places: 

1- The main treasury and the tellers.

2- On the road.

And in the following cases:

3- Counterfeit money

4- Breach of trust

5- Safe Keeping for Others:

5.1- Exchange houses are absolutely forbidden from keeping any personal affairs of the partners, employees or others in the safes of the entity.

5.2- The necessity of keeping the keys of all the safes with the employees of the entity, as long as they are distributed between the main employees and their substitutes.  The names of the employees should be registered in a regular register, giving a separate page for every key, including all the full details of the name of the employee in charge of the key, the date of receiving and delivering the keys.  This record should always be available upon the request of QCB inspectors.  

Fifth: Accounting Records

1- Organizing the Accounting Records of the Entity: Some exchange houses do not have well-organized records and do not take in consideration the international accounting standards and policies in keeping the records.All exchange houses that are infringing this rule should organize their accounting records according to the applied accounting rules and regulations.  The accounting registration should be done in a way that respects the international accounting standards.  Money penalties will be imposed on every violating entity according to article (21) of law No.(36) of 1995, regulating the Money Changing Business.

2- Remittances Records: A regular record for all kinds of remittances should be set, including the transferee’s name, his address, the beneficiary name, the remittance number, the date, the amount in foreign currency and its equivalent in Qatari riyals. Money penalties will be imposed on every violating entity according to article (21) of the law No.(36) of 1995, regulating the Money Changing Business.  

3- Depreciation of Fixed Assets:

3.1- Please, take the following into consideration· when calculating the depreciation of fixed assets:

3.1.1-Calculate the period since the purchase date until the end of the fiscal year.

3.1.2- Allow the registration of the maximum amount of 500 Qatari riyals (five hundred Qatari riyals) of purchases (fixed assets) in the general expenses account of the fiscal year.

3.2- As of 1/1/1995, take into consideration Resolution No.(3) of the year 1995, issued by the Ministry of Finance, Economics and Trade, particularly article (11) mentioned below, and abide to the following rules when calculating the assets depreciation stated in item (8) of article (7) of the Law:  

First: The Assets Cost Being Depreciated:

By assets cost, we mean all the expenses that the taxpayer bears in order to have the asset and prepare it for usage.

Second: How to Depreciate:

When defining the annual depreciation burden, the fixed installment method should be applied, according to the rates mentioned in the next paragraph.

Third: The Depreciation Rates:

The calculation of depreciation due to use or to common consumption deriving from the use of the asset or from prescription, according to the rates defined in the following table:

1- Buildings, i.e. offices, houses, stores, hospitals, and clubs 5%

2-Roads and bridges inside the construction 5%

3-Cabinets, pipelines and docks 5%

4-Furniture and office equipment  15%

5-Factories, machines and any other instruments not mentioned hereby 15%

6-Cars and motorcycles 20%

7-Lorries of all sizes  20%

8-Ships 7,5%

9-Planes  25%

10-Excavation tools 15%

11-Machines of the public service (including construction, works equipment, and others)  15%

12-Buildings and roads of the service stations  5%

13-Tools of service and lubrication of machines and other specific tools for service 15%

14-Trailers and trucks 15%

15-Filtration machines, pipelines (inside the filter), and small cabins 10%

16-Air conditioners 20%

17-Electrical instruments  20%

18-Computers  33,33%

19-Intangible assets like trade marks and their similarities, are depreciated in case of the settlement of their equivalents.  The depreciation is to be distributed during the period of the company.

4- Outstanding and Suspended Items in the Accounts of the Exchange Houses:  

4.1-The existence of outstanding and suspended items in the accounts of the exchange houses had been noticed.  Some of these items have been registered by mistake on the account of the correspondent banks, and some others represent the amount of the issued remittances, registered twice on the banks from which they have been drawn.

All exchange houses have to settle their suspended items through continuous follow up with the correspondent banks.  If, during six months, these items are not settled, the exchange house has to calculate a provision for the total amount of these suspended items.

4.2-All exchange houses must not issue any new drafts in exchange of the previous ones stopped by an order of the customer, or pay their amount in cash to the customers, before making sure that these drafts have not been cashed and that the correspondent bank has not stopped their encashments.

5- Contra Accounts: Exchange houses have to book the following accounts in their records as being contra accounts:

5.1-The value of the travelers’ cheques stock that it keeps.

5.2-The value of the gold and other precious metals bullions that it keeps in consignment.

5.3-Guarantees issued by banks by the order of exchange houses.  

Sixth: Representing the Foreign Financial Institutions

Some exchange houses are representing foreign financial institutions by keeping forms for opening accounts for these banks’ customers, by posting their publications at the walls of the entity, and by acting as a mediator between the bank and its customers in operations of withdrawals, deposits, renewing deposits and various correspondences.  By this, they are violating law No.(36) of the year 1995, regulating the Money Changing Business. 

All violating exchange houses have to stop performing these activities, according to the provisions of law No.(15), of the year 1993 establishing Qatar Central Bank.  

Seventh: Signing Agreements with Correspondents Abroad.

It has been noticed that some exchange houses do not sign agreements with other exchange houses, being their correspondents abroad, through which the relation between them is regulated by defining the obligations and liabilities of every party, particularly concerning the remittances to countries that impose restrictions on foreign currencies and that occur through exchange houses in various countries.

The exchange house should not deal with any other exchange house abroad unless it has signed with it an agreement defining the liabilities and obligations of each party, and particularly the limits of liabilities and obligations of the exchange houses (correspondents) towards the remittances that occur through them to countries that set restrictions on remittances in foreign currencies.  The amount of the remittance should be covered.  

Eighth: Cheques Issued by Banks and Financial Institutions abroad Qatar.  

The exchange house may accept and exchange remittances and cheques issued by banks and financial institutions or exchangers abroad Qatar on the following conditions:

1-All banks, institutions or exchangers have to be licensed by their countries.

2-The exchange house does not cash the transferred amount or the amount of the cheque unless it has received the amounts transferred from abroad or credited to its accounts with its correspondents.

Chapter Five

Management 

First: The Authorized Signatories

Please, submit to QCB the names of the authorized signatories of your house, on the administrative and financial level, in addition to the specimen of their signatures as it is registered in the Commercial Register at the Ministry of Finance, Economics and Trade – Commercial Registers Department, in addition to the signatures of the exchange houses owners.   Please, notify us with any changes that may occur on these documents in the future.