John Flint, the global head of retail banking and wealth management at HSBC, sums it up in a pithy phrase: "HSBC does not go home".
He is talking about the commitment of the bank to the UAE, and though he does not say it specifically, he paints it in stark contrast to other British-based banks that have scaled back their retail presence in the UAE, or pulled out altogether.
The phrase also hints at the support HSBC gave to Dubai during the financial crisis, when it was one of the emirate’s biggest creditors. “Now, we are back on a growth agenda. The great thing is that the region is growing, and the macro-environment has clearly improved,” he says.
Not that “going home” was ever really an option for HSBC in the region. The bank has been here for decades, via its ownership of the old British Bank of the Middle East, for which Mr Flint worked early on his career with HSBC.
He has other links with the region too. His father was a teacher in Saudi Arabia, and he remembers weekend camping trips at Jebel Ali long before it became the biggest port in the Middle East. After that, he had another posting to Bahrain when it was the financial hub of the region. So he feels at home in the UAE.
Several things brought him back to the region this week. “It’s one of the geographies for which I’m responsible, so I come to see what the current issues are and to pay my respects to the regulators,” he says.
So what are the current issues in UAE banking? Mr Flint’s duties for the bank are global, so he prefers to start with an issue that has become an important part of the bank’s international strategy, with big implications for the region. “The way we pay people, how we incentivise them, is important and is impacting the business and the customers.”
Since the crisis, all banks have come under pressure, from regulators and from customers, to return to their roots as businesses that deal primarily with customers. “There was perhaps too much ‘retailisation’, where branches were seen as shops through which we sold products to customers. Now we need to be more customer-centric. In the new world, we will only seek to sell you products that meet your needs,” he explains.
The shift in emphasis has involved introducing a new remuneration system for HSBC, with quarterly assessment of employees’ pay. The first part of the new cycle is complete next month, so the results can be tested then. “The intention is not to reduce employees’ pay, but to assess them on a different basis,” he says.
Employees in HSBC’s wealth management business have already been through the cycle, with positive results. There is talk of increasing the headcount in wealth management.
While this is an issue facing HSBC on a global scale, he also recognises there are specifics that make the UAE a unique market. Neither he, nor Andy Ripley, the head of retail banking in the UAE, believes that the restrictions imposed by government on foreign branches is that significant.
HSBC can only have eight branches, far fewer than their local rivals, but with the growth of customer service units in malls and internet and mobile banking, Mr Flint does not see that as such a problem.
There is also a perception that the UAE is an expensive place to do banking, from a business point of view, but the cost-income figures compare well with other regions of the world, he says. “The retail business relies on scale, and the average value of customers in the UAE is higher than most other parts of the world,” he adds.
Emiratisation, seen by some bankers as an extra cost of doing business in the UAE, is “an opportunity. I’ve been impressed by the calibre of local staff at all levels in the UAE”, he says.
On the criminalisation of customers who find themselves in financial difficulties, Mr Flint sticks to the house line: “It’s market practice in this part of the world, and we adhere to that. We always first aim to support customers in financial distress through our specialised remedial units.”
He and Mr Ripley believe that the criminalisation issue will be largely addressed when the UAE’s credit bureau is up and running, and do not foresee the problems some bankers have forecast in the initial stages of the credit-checking operations.
“We’ve been working very closely with the bureau already, and don’t think there will be a ‘big bang’ and don’t think there will be any major disruption, perhaps some initial teething problems. We’ve introduced direct debits and there was no chaos,” he says.
Despite its London base, HSBC is increasingly a bank focusing on emerging markets. “Our strategy recognises that they will continue to outperform growth in the developed world. We believed it before the crisis, and now even more so after,” he says. However, the issue of moving headquarters out of London, as has been speculated, “is a non-issue at this point of time”.
London will continue as HSBC global HQ for the foreseeable future, but Mr Flint does recognise the UAE’s attractions. “Dubai is also a convenient time-zone, and is a great travel hub for Asia,” he says.
fkane@thenational.ae
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
The%20specs
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RESULTS
Argentina 4 Haiti 0
Peru 2 Scotland 0
Panama 0 Northern Ireland 0
