London: HSBC Amanah, the global Islamic banking division of the UK's HSBC Group, complete with its new brand logo "Islamic Finance for Life," recently celebrated its 10th Anniversary in the plush surroundings of the ballroom of the London Hilton Hotel in Park Lane. Despite the doom and gloom of the credit crunch and the global financial crisis and recession, Zed Cama, the CEO of HSBC International Banking Group, reaffirmed the global banking major's commitment to Islamic finance and its development for the next decade. Saudi Arabia and Malaysia are the two biggest markets for HSBC Amanah.
In the Kingdom, HSBC has a vital presence through its stake in the Saudi British Bank. Last year it also obtained a stand-alone investment-banking license in the Kingdom. Similarly, HSBC Group acquired a license from Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, to set up a dedicated HSBC Amanah branches in Malaysia, thus becoming the first international bank to operate a dedicated Shariah-compliant bank in the Southeast Asian country.
HSBC's Islamic finance business, totaling up to $15 billion in assets, is thriving. This compared to its conventional financial services business which has seen a heavy exposure to the subprime market and its collateralized debt obligation (CDO) investments and the credit default swaps market, which has forced the bank to recapitalize with new capital injections from the Middle East and Asia. On the same day as the HSBC Amanah 10th Anniversary celebrations, HSBC announced that it has had limited exposure to the $50 billion pyramid scam of Bernard Madoff through financing some clients who invested with the erstwhile rogue hedge fund manager.
Given the salubrious location of the 10th Anniversary celebrations, the event was in some respects low key, with the majority of guests mainly comprising HSBC Amanah clients from the UK Muslim community and a sprinkling of bankers and lawyers.
There were the serious speeches for the evening, perhaps too many and too long to the liking of some of the guests. It was commendable of HSBC to invite Iqbal Khan, one of the founders of HSBC Amanah and the inaugural CEO of the division, to address the guests. Khan abruptly resigned from the bank last year amidst unconfirmed reports of a difference of opinion and style over the future of HSBC Amanah with the new senior management at the parent, HSBC Group.
It was perhaps surprising that his successor Nabeel Shoaib who operates out of HSBC Amanah's headquarters in Dubai did not address his guests. It was left to Amjad Ali, CEO of HSBC Amanah in the UK, to outline the vision of the division for the future at least in the UK market.
© Arab News 2008
