(9th December 2003 – Middle East) International banking group HSBC is set to take advantage of Saudi Arabia’s loosening of majority foreign ownership laws by launching an investment banking venture in the Kingdom.The bank plans to set up project finance capabilities in a country that is seeing demand for such finance growing rapidly.
HSBC has employed David Gore-Booth, former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia and board member of Saudi British Bank as a special advisor. HSBC has a 40 percent stake in Saudi British Bank, which is turn is expected to take a minority stake in HSBC’s new venture.
In further news, HSBC has gone against the grain by injecting more than US$200 million into its Argentina operations. Argentina’s financial crisis of the past two years has seen several international banks pack up and leave.
HSBC has established insurance and pension fund management businesses in Argentina as well as commercial banking operations.
HSBC also announced last week that it would avoid takeovers in the UK and Germany, and would focus its acquisitive efforts on the Americas and Asia. HSBC’s last major acquisition in the UK was Midland Bank, which at the time was the fourth largest bank in the UK and prompted HSBC to move its head office from Hong Kong to London.