Timeline – the 1970s | Commercial Bank of Qatar

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Timeline of the 1970s

1973

Qatar’s first private sector bank

H. H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani decrees the establishment of The Commercial Bank of Qatar.
1974

Men of their time

In 1974 Commercial Bank established its Articles of Association. The founding board members included Sheikh Ali bin Jabor Al-Thani (Chairman), Abdul Ghani Abdul Ghani (Deputy Chairman), Hussain Alfardan (Managing Director), Ahmed bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Nasser bin Faleh Al-Thani, Khalifa Abdullah Al-Attiyah, Jassim Mohammad Jabor Al-Mosallam, Jassem bin Mohamed Al-Jaidah, Omar Al-Mana and Salmeem Al-Sowaidi. They invested 10 million riyals of personal funds for the start-up.
1975

Commercial Bank opens its doors

In January 1975, Commercial Bank’s first employee, Abed Aziz, was hired. The first office was opened to the public on 10 April. As Qatar’s first private bank, Commercial Bank began operations under a management services contract with Chase Manhattan Bank.
1976-1977

A series of firsts

In 1976 Commercial Bank hired Qatar’s first female teller, who went on to become the country’s first female branch manager. In the same year a professional foreign exchange and funding division was created to expand foreign business and serve the domestic market. In 1977 the Bank’s operator, Chase Manhattan, appointed Donald Hayek as Commercial Bank’s General Manager.