Regional unrest to hit HSBC Mideast revenues: executive

Bank with 250 branches across region says revenue growth will be constrained by political instability

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Revenue growth at HSBC's Middle East and North Africa operations will be hampered by the political unrest in the region, a senior executive said on Monday.
Turmoil has spread across the Arab world since January, leading to the ouster of longtime regimes in Tunisia and Egypt as well as clashes in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain.
Steve Bottomley, regional head of strategy and planning for HSBC, said revenue growth would be constrained by the political instability, especially ongoing uncertainty in Egypt, one of the largest markets for the bank in the region.
"It makes sense that with some of the instability in Egypt, it will impact revenue but we haven't seen that yet," he told reporters.
Egypt is to set up a committee to settle problems surrounding investment contracts, which have shaken confidence in its once booming property sector.
HSBC, which has some 250 branches and offices across the Middle East and North Africa region, said pre-tax profit for its regional operations grew 96 per cent from 2009 to 2010, according to a bank presentation.
Bottomley said the British lender would see only marginal impact on its Qatar Islamic operations, adding existing customers will be offered a switch to conventional services.
In February, Qatar's central bank asked conventional lenders to close down their Islamic operations amid worries of overlap between the two. Lenders have until 31 December to shutter operations. The central bank has not provided further clarity.
HSBC may expand its Islamic business, HSBC Amanah, in Oman, which this month opened the door to Islamic finance for the first time, Bottomley said.
Oman was the only Gulf Arab state, which until now had not set up a bank specifically offering products and services complying with Islamic law.