HSBC Reaches Agreement for Sale of Lebanese Unit to Blom Bank

adminNovember 16, 2016UncategorisedComments are off for this post

A man walks past the headquarters of the Lebanese Blom Bank where an explosion occurred on Sunday in Beirut, Lebanon June 13, 2016. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s Blom Bank said on Wednesday it had signed an agreement to acquire the assets and liabilities of HSBC Bank Middle East-Lebanon, a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings. Subject to regulatory approval from Lebanon’s central bank, Banque
du Liban, the transaction is expected to be completed in the first half
of 2017, Blom said in a statement. HSBC has been in Lebanon since 1946 and has three branches in Dora, Ras Beirut and St Georges Bay. Blom’s statement said HSBC had about $953 million in assets in Lebanon as of June 30. “This acquisition falls under Blom Bank’s strategy of expanding its
customer base and diversifying its assets and revenues. The transaction
will help Blom Bank expand its corporate and commercial businesses as
well as its retail activities,” Blom said. Blom is Lebanon’s second-largest bank by market capitalisation, according to Thomson Reuters data, just behind Bank Audi.

(Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Dale Hudson)

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Stefania Bianchi

HSBC Holdings Plc, the London-based lender scaling back its global
presence, reached an agreement to sell its Lebanese business to Blom
Bank SAL. The transaction is expected to be completed by the first
half of 2017 and is subject to approval from Banque du Liban, Blom Bank
said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement. HSBC will continue to operate
its private banking business in the country, two people with knowledge
of the matter said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t
public.

Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver announced a
three-year strategy last year to shrink HSBC’s sprawling operations and
reduce annual costs by $5 billion, pledging to cut 25,000 employees.
HSBC was present in 71 countries at the end of 2015, down from 87 in
2011. In the Middle East, HSBC operates in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt,
Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Algeria. In Saudi Arabia, the bank
holds a 40 percent stake in Saudi British Bank and a 49 percent share in
HSBC Saudi Arabia. A planned sale of its unprofitable Turkish unit was
scrapped earlier this year after the bank struggled to find a buyer,
people with knowledge of the matter said in February.

HSBC Lebanon was established in 1946 and operates three branches in the country, employing around 200 people.