News

HSBC Amanah opens its first dedicated Islamic banking branch in Qatar

6 July 2010

HSBC Amanah today opened its first branch dedicated to Shariah compliant products and services in Qatar. To mark the occasion, HSBC Group Chief Executive Officer, Michael Geoghegan, and Governor of the Qatar Central Bank, H.E.Sheikh Abdullah bin Saoud Al Thani performed the opening ceremony today at the branch based at Salwa Road in Doha.

The branch, HSBC's first dedicated Islamic banking branch in the MENA region outside Saudi Arabia, will serve retail and corporate customers. The range of services includes HSBC Amanah Premier, an international Islamic banking service, which is an expansion of HSBC's market-leading premium banking service HSBC Premier; HSBC Advance, an international current account and banking service proposition, as well as international trade finance and corporate banking services.

Speaking at the opening ceremony in Doha, Michael Geoghegan, HSBC Group Chief Executive Officer said: "As the leading international bank in the Middle East, HSBC is strongly placed for the tremendous growth opportunities in providing Islamic banking services here in Qatar and across the region. By combining our Islamic banking expertise in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia with our international reach, we can meet the increasingly sophisticated requirements of Islamic banking customers in many parts of the world."

Since its launch in 1998, HSBC Amanah has continued to grow and now has a presence in the Middle East, South East Asia and Europe. It has a significant physical distribution network and a team of dedicated Islamic banking professionals in its global financial centers namely, New York, London, Riyadh, Dubai, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

Growth in Islamic banking exceeds that of conventional banking in Qatar, and across the Middle East. After growing at double-digit compounded annual rates over the past few years, the industry is forecast to continue growing at about 20 per cent annually until 2012, according to Oliver Wyman, a research firm.

Abdul Hakeem Mostafawi, Chief Executive Officer HSBC Qatar said: "The opening of this branch underlines our commitment to Islamic finance in Qatar and the Middle East. This is a milestone for HSBC Qatar and HSBC Amanah is delighted to support this growing need with the opening of this new branch."

Over the past 50 years, HSBC has reached a number of milestones in Qatar such as being the first bank to install an ATM in 1986, and lead managing Qatar's first Islamic sukuk for the government in 2004. HSBC is currently the biggest foreign bank in Qatar, offering retail, commercial, institutional and private banking services through a network of six branches, 22 ATMs and 550 employees.

For further information, please contact:

Rosana Gulzar Mohd
HSBC Amanah corporate communications
971 44 235607
rosanagulzar@hsbc.com

About HSBC Amanah

HSBC Amanah is the global Islamic financial services business of the HSBC Group. It was established in 1998 with the aim of making HSBC the leading provider of Islamic financial services worldwide. With established and successful operations in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe, HSBC Amanah represents the largest and most comprehensive Islamic proposition of any international bank.

With the global resources of the HSBC Group at its disposal, and the largest Islamic finance team of any international bank, HSBC Amanah is uniquely positioned to understand, structure, and distribute financial services that are compatible with the requirements of Shariah (Islamic Law).

About HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (HSBC)

HSBC is the largest and most widely represented international bank in the Middle East. HSBC Bank Middle East Limited has 46 branches throughout the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Algeria and the Palestinian Autonomous Area. In addition to the branch network the Bank maintains representative offices in Tehran, Iran and Tripoli, Libya. This extensive regional coverage is strengthened by another member of the HSBC Group, HSBC Bank Egypt SAE; and by its associated companies; The Saudi British Bank; British Arab Commercial Bank Limited; HSBC Saudi Arabia Limited; SABB Securities Limited; SABB Takaful Co.; and Dar Es Saalam Investment Bank.