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BANK Glossary

(see rule 1.1.3)

absolute value of a number means the value of the number irrespective of sign.

accounting standards include accounting rules, principles, practices and conventions.

additional tier 1 capital has the meaning given by rule 3.2.10.

affiliate, of a party, means any entity of which the party holds 10% or more, but less than a majority, of the voting power.

approved website means a website that is approved under the Interpretation and Application Rules 2005, rule 3.1.2.

asset-backed commercial paper or ABCP means securities with an original maturity of 1 year or less that are backed by assets or other exposures held in an SPE.

asset-backed securities means securities that are backed by receivables.

Note Mortgage-backed security, which is backed by mortgage receivables, is a subset of asset-backed security.

authorisation means an authorisation granted under FSR, Part 5.

authorised firm (or firm) means a person that has an authorisation.

banking business firm has the meaning given by rule 1.3.1.

base capital requirement has the meaning given by rule 3.2.4.

Basel III LCR: see Part 9.3, note.

Basel Accords is the collective name for Basel I, Basel II and Basel III, which are a set of reform measures issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to improve the regulation, supervision, risk management and capital adequacy of financial institutions, as amended from time to time.

Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision means the Principles issued under that name by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, as amended from time to time.

branch means the local office in the QFC of a legal person incorporated outside the QFC.

business day means a day that is not a Friday, a Saturday, or a public or bank holiday in Qatar.

capital adequacy ratio has the meaning given by rule 3.2.6.

capital conservation buffer has the meaning given by rule 3.3.1(2).

capital relief is the reduction, in the credit risk capital requirement for an exposure, obtained from the use of a CRM technique.

cash collateral has the meaning given by rule 4.5.8.

CET 1 capital means common equity tier 1 capital.

CIPR means the Customer and Investor Protection Rules 2019.

clean-up call has the meaning given by rule 4.6.16 (1).

common equity tier 1 capital (or CET 1 capital) has the meaning given by rule 3.2.8.

connected, in relation to a party, has the meaning given by rule 5.1.3.

controlled early amortisation provision has the meaning given by rule 4.6.37 (2).

corporate group has the meaning given by rule 10.1.2(1).

counter-cyclical capital buffer has the meaning given by rule 3.3.1(3).

counterparty means any person with or for whom a banking business firm carries, on or intends to carry on, banking business or associated business.

credit enhancement, in relation to a securitisation, means a contractual arrangement in which a banking business firm or other entity retains or assumes a securitisation exposure and, in substance, provides some degree of added protection to other parties to the transaction. In essence it is the raising of the credit quality of the securitisation above that of the underlying assets.

Examples

1 Credit enhancement may be provided internally, by the issuer, through the use of excess spread reserves, over-collateralisation or cash collateral accounts.
2 It may be also be provided by a third party through guarantees, letters of credit or protection insurance.

credit risk has the meaning given by rule 4.1.2.

credit risk capital requirement means the amount of capital that a firm must have to cover its credit risk.

CRM technique means a credit risk mitigation technique under Part 4.5.

CTRL means the Governance and Controlled Functions Rules 2020.

customer means a person to whom a banking business firm provides, has provided or offers to provide a service or product, and includes:

(a) in relation to a deposit taker — a business customer of the firm (within the meaning given in CIPR); and
(b) in relation to an investment dealer — a business customer of the firm (within the meaning given in CIPR).

day means a period of 24 hours starting at midnight.

dealing in investments means the regulated activity described in FSR, Schedule 3, Part 2, paragraph 4.

deposit-taker has the meaning given by rule 1.3.2.

deposit taking means the regulated activity described in FSR, Schedule 3, Part 2, paragraph 1.

early amortisation provision has the meaning given by rule 4.6.37 (1).

Note For controlled and non-controlled early amortisation provisions see subrules 4.6.37 (2) and (3).

ECRA means external credit rating agency.

eligible bilateral netting agreement: see rule 3.4.11 (2).

eligible financial collateral has the meaning given by rule 4.5.7.

eligible guarantor has the meaning given by rule 4.5.15.

eligible liquidity facility, in relation to a securitisation, has the meaning given by rule 4.6.28 (2).

eligible netting agreement has the meaning given by rule 4.5.18.

eligible protection provider has the meaning given by rule 4.6.35 (2)

eligible servicer cash advance facility, in relation to a securitisation, has the meaning given by rule 4.6.31 (3).

entity means any kind of entity, and includes, for example, any person.

exercise control: an entity (entity A) exercises control over another (entity B) if:

(a) entity A holds 10% or more of the shares of entity B, or is entitled to exercise or control the exercise of 10% or more of the voting power in entity B;
(b) entity A holds 10% or more of the shares in a parent entity of entity B or is entitled to exercise or control the exercise of 10% or more of the voting power in a parent entity of entity B; or
(c) entity A is able to exercise significant influence over the management of entity B or a parent entity of entity B because of entity A's shareholding or voting power, or by contractual or other arrangements.

exposure means the maximum loss that a banking business firm might suffer as a result of the default or failure of a counterparty, connected counterparties, issuer or connected issuers.

external credit rating agency (or ECRA) means:

(a) Moody's Investors Service;
(b) Fitch Ratings;
(c) Standard and Poor's;
(d) a rating agency that is affiliated with one of the agencies mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c);
(e) Islamic International Rating Agency, B.S.C; and
(f) any other agency approved by the Regulatory Authority.

financial group has the meaning given by rule 10.1.2(2).

FSR means the Financial Services Regulations.

gain-on-sale, in relation to a banking business firm, means the gain that arises when there is an increase in equity or assets of the firm as a result of originating exposures into a securitisation (for example, an increase associated with expected future margin income, or a profit on the sale of exposures).

GCC means Gulf Cooperation Council.

governing body of an entity means its board of directors, committee of management or other governing body (whatever it is called).

home jurisdiction, for an entity, means the jurisdiction where the entity's authorisation or licence was granted.

home regulator, for an entity, means the financial regulator in the jurisdiction in which the entity's authorisation or licence was granted.

ICAAP means internal capital adequacy assessment process.

IFRS means the International Financial Reporting Standards, as amended and in force from time to time.

impaired credit has the meaning given by rule 4.3.5(1).

implicit support, to a securitisation, means support that is in excess of an originator's predetermined contractual obligations under the securitisation.

INMA means the Investment Management and Advisory Rules 2014.

internal capital adequacy assessment process (or ICAAP) has the meaning given by rule 3.1.5.

investment dealer has the meaning given by rule 1.3.3.

investment grade means a rating of at least BBB- or equivalent.

jurisdiction means any kind of legal jurisdiction, and includes, for example:

(a) the State of Qatar;
(b) a foreign country (whether or not an independent sovereign jurisdiction), or a state, province or other territory of such a foreign country; and
(c) the QFC or a similar jurisdiction.

large exposure has the meaning given by rule 5.3.1(1).

legal person means an entity (other than an individual) on which the legal system of a jurisdiction confers rights and imposes duties, and includes, for example, any entity that can own, deal with or dispose of property.

liquidity facility, in relation to a securitisation, has the meaning given by rule 4.6.28 (1).

minimum capital requirement has the meaning given by rule 3.2.3(2).

monetise (used of an asset) means convert into cash (whether by sale, repo or in any other way).

month means calendar month — that is, the period beginning at the start of any day of one of the 12 named months of the year and ending:

(a) at the end of the day before the corresponding day of the next named month; or
(b) if there is no corresponding day — at the end of the last day of the next named month.

non-controlled early amortisation provision has the meaning given by rule 4.6.37 (3).

OECD means Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

parent entity, for a legal person (A), means any of the following:

(a) a legal person that holds a majority of the voting power in A;
(b) a legal person that is a member of A (whether direct or indirect, or though legal or beneficial entitlement) and alone, or together with 1 or more legal persons in the same corporate group, holds a majority of the voting power in A;
(c) a parent entity of any legal person that is a parent entity of A.
Note Legal person and corporate group are defined in this glossary.

person means:

(a) an individual (including an individual occupying an office or position from time to time); or
(b) a legal person.

potential future credit exposure has the meaning given by rule 4.4.11(3).

problem assets has the meaning given by rule 4.1.3(3).

providing credit facilities means the regulated activity described in FSR, Schedule 3, Part 2, paragraph 6.

prudential risk is the collective term for credit risk, market risk, operational risk, IRRBB and liquidity risk.

QFC means Qatar Financial Centre.

QFC Authority means the Qatar Financial Centre Authority established under article 3, Law No. 7 of 2005 of the State of Qatar.

qualifying central counterparty means an entity:

(a) that is licensed or authorised to operate as a central counterparty in relation to the instruments concerned; and
(b) that is based and prudentially supervised in a jurisdiction in which the financial regulator that is responsible for the prudential supervision of the entity:
(i) has established rules and regulations for central counterparties that are consistent with Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures, published by the International Organization of Securities Commissions in July 2011; and
(ii) has publicly indicated that it applies those rules and regulations to the entity on an ongoing basis.

Note The Principles is available at: http://www.iosco.org/library/pubdocs/pdf/IOSCOPD350.pdf.

recognised exchange means an exchange set out in Schedule 1 or in a notice published by the Regulatory Authority on an approved website.

regulated activity means an activity that is a regulated activity under FSR.

Regulatory Authority means the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority.

regulatory capital has the meaning given by rule 3.2.7.

related party, of a banking business firm, has the meaning given by rule 4.8.3.

re-securitisation has the meaning given by rule 4.6.2 (4).

retained securitisation exposure has the meaning given by rule 4.6.20.

risk-based capital requirement has the meaning given by rule 3.2.5.

Rules means rules made by the Regulatory Authority under FSR, article 15 (1), and includes:

(a) any standard, principle or code of practice made by the authority; and
(b) any other instrument made or in force under any Rules.

securitisation has the meaning given by rule 4.6.2 (1).

securitisation exposures has the meaning given by rule 4.6.4.

securitisation involving revolving exposures has the meaning in rule 4.6.36.

special purpose entity or SPE has the meaning given by rule 4.6.8.

subsidiary: a legal person (A) is a subsidiary of another legal person (B) if B is a parent entity of A.

synthetic securitisation has the meaning given by rule 4.6.3 (3).

terms of business (of a banking business firm for a customer) means a statement or statements in writing of the terms on which the firm will conduct business with or for the customer.

tier 2 capital has the meaning given by rule 3.2.12.

total risk-weighted assets has the meaning given by rule 3.2.1(2).

traditional securitisation has the meaning given by rule 4.6.3 (2).

US GAAP means the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, as amended and in force from time to time.

writing means any form of writing, and includes, for example, any way of representing or reproducing words, numbers, symbols or anything else in legible form (for example, by printing or photocopying).

Amended by QFCRA RM/2019-4 and QFCRA RM/2019-6 (as from 1st January 2020)
Amended by QFCRA RM/2020-6 (as from 15th October 2020)
Amended by QFCRA RM/2020-2 (as from 1st January 2021)