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HSBC Downsizes Islamic Finance Business
Eliane Chavagnon
9 October 2012
HSBC
is ceasing to offer Shariah-compliant products in the
UK, the UAE, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Singapore and Mauritius, and focusing its Islamic finance offering on clients in Malaysia and
Saudi Arabia, coming as the latest cutback in the bank's restructuring program. Wholesale Islamic financing/Sukuk products will still be
offered in the scaled-back jurisdictions - and globally - via HSBC Saudi Arabia,
in which the firm indirectly holds a 49 per cent shareholding. Meanwhile, the firm said it will maintain a "limited presence in
Indonesia" and will continue offering wholesale Islamic financing/Sukuk
products to its global client base through operations in Malaysia and
Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, Islamic financial products will be offered through
the Saudi British Bank, in which HSBC indirectly holds a 40 per cent
shareholding. HSBC Saudi Arabia will offer Islamic investments and
wholesale Islamic financing/Sukuk products to customers globally. "This announcement represents further progress in HSBC's execution of
the global strategy set out in May 2011 and demonstrates the group's
commitment to driving growth and improving returns by restructuring or
exiting businesses that do not meet its investment criteria," the firm
said in a statement. Following the restructuring, HSBC will retain 83 per cent of the group's Islamic business revenues. In August HSBC announced a far-reaching cost-cutting plan which would see it sell non-core businesses and cut around 30,000 jobs, or a tenth of its global headcount. It plans to save US$3.5 billion of annual costs as a result.