Insurance broker Marsh has applied for a brokerage license inQatar with the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority.

Robert Makhoul, head of Marsh's Middle East operations, toldNational Underwriter that the firm is applying for a broker'slicense to allow it to conduct broker and risk consulting servicesthere.

“Our plans to set up an office in the Qatar Financial Centre(QFC) reflect the exciting opportunities available there,” he saidin a statement. “We have had solid growth in the region and believethere will be strong demand for the kind of broking and riskadvisory services we can offer companies in Qatar.”

He said a license typically takes 45 to 60 days for review andapproval after application.

Marsh is not the first insurance interest to apply for licensingin Qatar.

AXA Insurance has a Qatar license to do business. Othercompanies providing financial services there are Credit Suisse,Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Deutsche Bank.

Marsh appears to be the only insurance broker on the list, onceit receives approval.

There are a total of 33 firms licensed with the QFC performingregulated and professional services activities, according to itsannual report.

In the report, the QFC, an independent regulatory authority,said many of the world's largest insurance groups have applied forlicenses there.

Gross Domestic Product is expected to grow at 8.3 percent thisyear in Qatar and expected to stand at $80.9 billion by 2010.

The report also notes that insurance premium growth for the GCC(Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, a six nationgroup formed in the 1980s) is expected to grow from less than $5billion today to over $10 billion by 2010. GCC accounts for only0.14 percent of the world insurance industry, but showed a growthrate of 17.5 percent between 2001 and 2005, according to thereport.