QFC COB marketing rules
Bachir El Nakib, Regulatory Consultancy
6th Feb 2023
Under QFCA Conduct of Business Rule # COB Rule 3.3 Marketing Material, a licensed firm has to pay special attention before launching a promotion or marketing plan
Before a Licensed Firm communicates any marketing material to a Client it must ensure that the material is accurate and not misleading.
CONFIDENTIALITY: COB Rule 3.4
A Licensed Firm must refrain from disclosing outside the Licensed Firm any confidential information acquired in the conduct of its business without proper and specific authority unless there is a professional or legal duty to disclose.
SYSTEMS AND CONTROL COB Rule 4.1.1
A Licensed Firm must establish systems and controls to identify and manage any actual and potential conflict of interest and material interest to ensure that all of its Clients are fairly treated and not prejudiced by any such interests.
REP OFFICE 2.2.4 Marketing material
(1) In these rules:
marketing material means material communicated to a person in the course of providing information on financial services or financial products or making introductions or referrals.
(2) When marketing a financial product or financial service, a representative office must take reasonable care to ensure that the marketing material that it uses is clear, fair and not misleading
(3) A representative office must ensure that any marketing material that it communicates to a person contains, in addition to either of the disclosures required by rule 2.2.2:
(a) the names of the representative office and the entity on behalf of which the marketing material is being communicated; and
(b) if the marketing material is directed to a particular class or category of person, clear statements to that effect and that no other person should act on it.
(4) The representative office must ensure that the marketing material contains in a prominent position, or has attached to it:
(a) a statement that clearly sets out the following:
(i) the name of the jurisdiction in which the relevant financial product or financial service is regulated and the legislation in that jurisdiction that applies to the product or service;
(ii) the name of the regulator that regulates the product or service;
(iii) the regulatory status of the product or service, according to that regulator; and
(b) the following warning:
Warning: This document is about a financial product [or service] that is not regulated nor approved by the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority. The Regulatory Authority is not responsible for reviewing or verifying any prospectus or other document in relation to this financial product [or service].
(5) A representative office must ensure that any document that contains information on past performance contains the following warning:
Warning: Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance.
The warning must appear near the information on past performance, and may not be provided by way of a footnote.
(6) A representative office must not distribute marketing material for a financial product or financial service if it becomes aware that the entity that offers the product or service is in breach of a regulatory or legal requirement in relation to it.
(7) A representative office must take reasonable steps to ensure that no person uses its marketing material on its behalf in a way that contravenes this rule.
(8) Nothing in this rule applies to any material communicated in the course of any other regulated activity.
Derived from QFCRA RM/2020-5 (as from 1st October 2020)
WARNING SIGNALS
REPO2.2.5 No advertising of particular products or particular services
(1) A representative office must not advertise a particular financial product or a particular financial service.
(2) In subrule (1):
advertise means communicate in any medium (for example, brochure, telephone call, the internet, email and presentation) if the purpose or effect of the communication is:
(a) to promote:
(i) 1 or more financial products or financial services; or
(ii) a regulated activity (or an activity that would be a regulated activity if it was carried on in or from the QFC); or
(b) to invite or induce a person:
(i) to enter into an agreement with any person in relation to a financial product or financial service; or
(ii) to engage in a regulated activity (or an activity that would be a regulated activity if it were carried on in or from the QFC).
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