HSBC is to further raise its profile in the UAE with the construction of a US$250 million headquarters in Dubai’s Downtown area as it prepares to move its Middle East business from the Channel Island of Jersey to the emirate later this year.
The 20-storey building will be sited on Emaar Square, next to the headquarters of Standard Chartered.
The new HSBC building will be significantly taller than those of its rivals.
Work will begin soon on the 320,000-square-foot premises, and HSBC hopes to take up occupancy in 2018. When it does, it will mean the bank vacating its existing HQ in the historic Bur Dubai building by Dubai Creek, which has been a centre of banking in the Arabian Gulf for six decades.
Two other existing premises – in Emaar Square and the Lufthansa building on Sheikh Zayed Road – will also be vacated. The Middle East regional business will be incorporated in the Dubai International Financial Centre. It has previously been incorporated in the Channel Islands.
The new building is being developed by the Irish firm Gulf Resources Development and Investment, and HSBC will buy the freehold of the premises on completion. No financial details are being provided, but industry estimates, based on similar recent transactions in the Downtown area, put the cost at about Dh920m.
Mohammad Al Tuwaijri, the deputy chairman and chief executive of HSBC in Middle East and North Africa said: “HSBC has been present in the Middle East since the late 1800s and became the first bank to open in Dubai in 1946. This state-of-the-art building represents a moment to reflect on this rich regional history of partnership and progress.”
Abdulfattah Sharaf, the chief executive of HSBC in the UAE, said: "The UAE is an established gateway for international trade and capital flows. It is one of HSBC's global priority markets and home to about 4,000 of our employees. This signature development reflects the UAE's status as the Middle East's leading financial capital."
The vacating of the Bur Dubai HQ will bring a wave of nostalgia from Dubai banking veterans. As the HQ of the old British Bank of the Middle East, Dubai’s first bank, the waterside building played a major role in financing the dredging of Dubai Creek at the end of the 1950s, advancing a loan for part of the project implemented by Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai at the time.
The opening up of the creek was the beginning of Dubai’s transformation into the region’s biggest trading hub.
An HSBC spokesman said the bank would maintain a branch in the Bur Dubai building.
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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
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
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
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
