Amwal, a Qatari asset management and investment banking firm, plans to launch bond and money market funds this year to tap growing appetite for relatively safe investments, its chief executive has said.

 "There is a lot of liquidity in the market. People feel the need to park their cash into much safer investments," George Shehadeh said on the sidelines of an economic conference.

The open-ended bond fund is expected to be at least $100 million and will include both Gulf Arab corporate and sovereign bonds, Shehadeh said.

The open-ended money market fund, which will invest in Qatari riyal deposits and instruments, is expected over time to be around $200 million, he added.

Investors and sovereign wealth funds in the oil-exporting Gulf Arab region are looking into boosting their local investments after suffering losses in international markets.

Majid Al-Futtaim Group, a major retail mall owner in the UAE, in May launched an open-ended $150 million equity fund to invest in the Mena region and said it may start a fixed-income fund later in the year.

"There are high quality bonds in the region and money market deposits that are yielding attractive returns," said Shehadeh.

Amwal, whose shareholders include the country's largest lender Qatar National Bank, already has a fund that invests in Qatari listed equities.

State and corporate issuers in the energy-exporting Gulf Arab region have raised more than $7 billion by issuing bonds over the last three months and analysts expect bond sales to rise. – Reuters