Eversheds Sutherland has advised Doha Bank on its inaugural issuance of digitally native notes - the first digitally issued notes in MENA on Euroclear’s D-FMI platform

Eversheds Sutherland acted as counsel to Doha Bank on the issuance by Doha Finance Limited of US$150,000,000 floating rate digitally native notes guaranteed by Doha Bank Q.P.S.C. under their US$3,000,000,000 Euro Medium Term Note Programme. This marks Doha Bank’s first issuance of digitally native notes and its inaugural floating-rate issuance based on SOFR.

The notes are listed on the London Stock Exchange’s International Securities Market (ISM) and were settled with T+0 instant settlement on Euroclear’s D-FMI platform, which facilitates the issuance, transfer and settlement of digitally native notes using distributed ledger technology (DLT).

The Eversheds Sutherland team was led by Mohsin Abbasi with support from Mahmoud Kreidie. Mohsin Abbasi said: “We are honoured to have supported Doha Bank on this milestone transaction. The deal places Doha Bank and Qatar among the GCC’s frontrunners in digital bond infrastructure and reflects the region’s wider ambition to drive diversification and modernisation in capital markets. The distributed ledger technology and T+0 settlement utilised on the transaction provide real-world benefits in terms of improved transparency and efficiency and the issuance has set a new benchmark for capital markets in the region.”