Shares in Qatari banks fell in early trade on Sunday after the central bank of the United Arab Emirates ordered UAE banks to be wary of any accounts they hold with six Doha-based banks, Reuters reported. In Dubai, the largest listed property developer, Emaar Properties, rose 0.9% as investors continued to react positively to its plan to distribute funds from a listing of its local real estate developer to shareholders. The UAE, as part of its response to the diplomatic rift in the region, told local banks to apply “enhanced due diligence” to the Qatari institutions and instructed banks to stop dealing with 59 individuals and 12 entities with alleged links to Qatar. Five of the six Doha-based banks named are listed on the stock market: Qatar National Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Qatar International Islamic Bank, Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank. Shares in all of them fell with the largest, QNB, down 1%. Qatari banks have about 60 billion riyals ($16.5 billion) in funding in the form of customer and interbank deposits from other (Persian) Gulf Arab states (UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait).
