Doha - A new quarterly journal, called Quantum - Finance in Perspective, has been launched here. The magazine has been commissioned by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA), a release said yesterday.
Written by international finance industry and business experts, it has been designed to stimulate thought and debate and to raise issues of current topicality and interest to QFC and to its various audiences around the world.
The first issue of Quantum - Finance in Perspective focuses particularly on insurance and re-insurance. These sectors are core businesses that the QFC will help to develop in the future, in Qatar and in the region as a whole. Similarly the next issue in January will look at asset management, for much the same reason.
Lead articles in the journal examine whether capital markets can and should take over the management of risk in this area; the convergence of healthcare and financial services; and the development of the captive insurance market in the Middle East. There is also a detailed technical analysis of alternative risk transfer.
Elsewhere in Quantum - Finance in Perspective, Harry Alverson of the Carlyle Group, gives an exclusive interview defending the role of private equity investors, ,and guru Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains his 'black swan theory' on the impact of the unexpected.
The ramifications of the Sarbanes Oxley legislation (introduced in the US in 2002 following major corporate and accounting scandals) on hedge funds in New York are also studied. Rajat Gupta, Senior Partner Emeritus at McKinsey and Company argues that business and government should not be rivals because, as partners, they can be a strong engine of development.
The Editor of Quantum - Finance in Perspective is Nigel Dudley, who has been writing for over 25 years on international business and finance - particularly in the Middle East - in publications including Euromoney, the International Herald Tribune and The Banker.
Quantum - Finance in Perspective will be distributed in both printed form and online. It can be viewed at www.quantummagazine.com and through a link on the QFCA website.
Stuart Pearce, QFCA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director-General said: "We are the driving force behind this magazine, but it is not about us. In keeping with our mission to broaden and deepen financial capacity in Qatar and the region as a whole, we wanted to introduce a journal that was doing more than just reporting events."
© The Peninsula 2007
