DOHA (Reuters) -- Qatar plans to start introducing international regulatory standards for its financial services industry this year as it competes with rivals such as Dubai to attract foreign investment, a Qatar regulatory official said.

The local stock exchange, the Qatar Central Bank and the Qatar Financial Center (QFC) will come under the authority of a single regulatory body which the Ministry of Finance may complete setting up as early as 2009, Phillip Thorpe, chairman of the Qatar Financial Center Regulatory Authority told Reuters on Tuesday.

Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, set up the QFC in 2005 to offer international financial service companies such as HSBC Holdings Plc a regulatory environment that operates according to international standards and 100 percent ownership. Foreign companies outside the QFC must have majority local partners.

“Companies have a choice where they base their headquarters in the region,” Thorpe said. Having a single regulator “simplifies things further” and makes Qatar more attractive to foreign investment, he said.

Qatar’s government, holder of the world’s third-largest reserves of natural gas, plans to spend about $130 billion on infrastructure and industry during the next few years, according to the QFC website.

Qatar gross domestic product grew about 8 percent last year to $54 billion, spurred by higher oil prices and sales of natural gas.

The single authority, which does not yet have a name, plans to improve the quality of company financial disclosures and accounting standards, and tighten listing requirements, Thorpe said, without being more specific.

Regulated to international standards, domestic companies may also find it easier to be accepted abroad, he said. “Most of Qatar’s financial services firms are healthy and are looking at growing their businesses,” Thorpe said. “If you want to access other markets, you need the passport to do it, which means being regulated to a standard that is internationally recognized.”

The authority will also introduce regulations for the insurance and asset management industry, which are limited now, Thorpe said.