No HSBC Kuwait branch closure

HSBC Bank Middle East has denied that it is shutting down its branch in Kuwait, as reported this morning in a section of Kuwaiti media.

In an emailed statement sent to Emirates 24/7, the bank confirmed that it will close its premier retail banking operations by year-end in that country, but that its branch would remain operational and continue to provide other services, including commercial and private banking offerings.

“Following a global strategic review of its operations, HSBC confirms it will close its HSBC Premier Retail Banking offer in Kuwait on December 31, 2011, in order to focus its resources on growing its Global Banking and Markets, Commercial Banking and Private Banking businesses. Customers have already been informed of this decision,” the bank’s emailed statement said.

HSBC’s global CEO Stewart Gulliver had announced in May this year that the bank would refocus its business strategy and that a large-scale retrenchment of operations, particularly in respect of the retail sector, was planned.

The bank is expected to imminently drop “the world’s local bank” as its slogan for the first time in nine years, as costs associated with this are spiralling and it needs to save $3.5bn by 2013, with the aim of bringing overheads down from 55 per cent of revenues to 48 per cent.

In August, further to Gulliver’s $3.5 billion cost-cutting plan, HSBC announced that it will cut 25,000 jobs and exit from 20 countries by 2013 in addition to 5,000 job-cuts announced earlier in the year.

The bank said its move to opt out of Kuwait’s retail business should be seen in the light of the bank’s overall global game plan and not as its lack of faith in the country’s growth potential. “This decision [to close HSBC’s retail banking operations in Kuwait by end-2011] is a result of a strategic review of our retail business, and will not result in any reduction of the commitment or the scale of HSBC’s operations in Kuwait. Indeed, we see operations in our corporate and private banking businesses growing in Kuwait,” it said.

The statement further added: “HSBC is strongly committed to the Kuwaiti market and is proud to trace its roots back to 1942. Looking to the future, as increasing numbers of large capital projects are commissioned, we are confident that HSBC, as one of the world’s leading international banks, is well placed to assist in facilitating investment flows and to support the future economic development of Kuwait.”

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