Without much fanfare, the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has been gradually shifting its strategy, allowing local companies to set up special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and trying to attract more non-financial firms, in what appears to be a tacit admission that its previous focus on reinsurance, captive insurance and asset management has failed to provide the desired volume of business.The authorities had been targeting those three sectors with a view to differentiating Doha from the likes of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), which dominates the regional financial scene. But in recent years, the number of licensed firms being added to the public register by the QFC Authority has been steadily declining, from 22 in 2011 to just 14 in 2013