Interview Stephen Moss, Regional CEO, Middle East, North Africa and Turkiye, HSBC

1. HSBC celebrates its 70th anniversary in Qatar this year and the bank’s heritage in the region extends back to 1889. How important is the Middle East to HSBC’s strategic growth ambitions?

“The Middle East’s investment-led significant economic transformation drive, Asia’s economic dynamism, and the necessity of creating sustainable economies are coming together to create very substantial business opportunities. HSBC, positioned at both ends of the Middle East-Asia corridor and with more than a century of history in each, is directly supporting clients to capitalize on this megatrend.

The bright spots are plenty and according to HSBC research, annual two-way goods trade between the two regions is projected to more than double from around USD950bn in 2022 to over USD1.9trn by 2035¹. Take here in Qatar, for example, which has witnessed accelerated trade and investment with Asia, with China becoming Qatar’s largest import and export partner²³. The country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, has invested US$1 billion in India’s Reliance Retail Ventures⁴ and has stated its intention for further public and private investments in China’s retail, healthcare, tech and logistics sectors.⁵

There is clearly more to come; last week Hong Kong and Qatar signed an agreement to increase connectivity between the financial hubs, a move which will include sharing best practices and facilitating training to promote business.⁶

In short, billions of dollars of trade and investment are flowing between Asia and the Middle East. HSBC is uniquely positioned to connect clients in the two regions, and to use our long established on the ground presence, track record, and heritage at either end of the corridor to support new business and investment.”

2. Talking about economic diversification and the growing interest of international investors, how is HSBC supporting the MENAT region in this ambition?

“Financing of the region’s new economic models and energy transition is at the heart of the opportunities we see ahead. As the world’s largest trade bank with a network covering 90%⁷ of the world’s trade and capital flows, combined with our long-standing presence in the region, we are uniquely placed to help our clients navigate the inbound and outbound opportunities in the Middle East.

The Qatar Free Trade Zone Authority (QFZA) is one such example. As one of the most significant developments to support economic transformation, the QFZA is opening up great opportunities for new companies to establish a presence in Qatar. HSBC became the first bank to establish a presence in the QFZA in 2020, offering advanced digital services to the free zone’s 200+ investors.⁸ As the region’s leading transaction bank⁹, we continue to grow our digital footprint and capabilities across the country in support of Qatar Central Bank’s digital strategy.

Another fast-growing area attracting international investment is infrastructure, which has received a boost from the emergence of public-private partnerships (PPPs). The size of the Gulf’s giga project pipelines, estimated to be worth approximately US$3 trillion, reflects the extent of the opportunity. The PPP model has been mainly focused on power and utilities sectors in the Middle East but we are now seeing it expand to fulfil much broader infrastructure requirements¹⁰ , with social infrastructure a major recipient. That is good news for international investors.”

3. Do you have specific examples of how HSBC supported and is still supporting Qatar related to the Qatar National Vision 2030?

“The four pillars of the Qatar National Vision 2030 provide clear opportunities for HSBC to contribute.”

Pillar 1: Economic Development

“We are continuing to support economic diversification by connecting the world to Qatar, identifying opportunities for growth and investment of local entities internationally and supporting multi-nationals to grow their business’ in Qatar.”

Background examples:

• HSBC Qatar has facilitated the expansion of a Qatari-owned large corporate into Latin America, assisted an Indian conglomerate in financing their trade requirements from Qatar and advised a Qatari national champion investing in renewable energy in Australia¹¹.

Pillar 2: Human Development

“HSBC’s culture is one where colleagues can grow their careers and enjoy new opportunities while offering world-class banking services to our customers. Enabling career progression, developing talent and making our people ‘future fit’ are key to our ongoing objective of attracting the best talent to HSBC.”

Background example:

• HSBC Qatar actively invests in recruiting, developing, and retaining local Qatari talent. Qatari nationals currently make up 37% of HSBC’s total workforce in Qatar and we have a strong pipeline of Qatari talent which we continually invest in¹².

Pillar 3: Environmental Development

“Across the Middle East we are working in partnership with clients and policymakers to support the region’s transition and secure meaningful outcomes. This includes bringing expertise from across HSBC’s global network to major forums in the Middle East which aim to advance the region’s sustainable development including the Qatar Economic Forum this week¹³ as well as the Qatar Foundation’s Earth Summit 2023 and COP28 last year.”

Background example:

• HSBC Qatar supported Masraf Al Rayan to launch their sustainable financing framework, and Qatar’s debut Green Bond offering for QNB.¹⁵

Pillar 4: Social Development

“HSBC believes in its role as a responsible corporate citizen and invests in social corporate activities such as financial literacy programmes and volunteering; HSBC launched a free app with the British Council in Qatar for World Youth Skills Day, designed to help young people develop essential skills for life, work and society.”

Background example:

• British Council and HSBC launch free app in Qatar for World Youth Skills Day - Taqaddam Life Skills.¹⁶
• HSBC was one of the first board members of Injaz Al Arab in Qatar and continues to support with employee volunteer programmes.¹⁷

4. What is the future outlook for the bank in Qatar?

“As one of the first banks in Qatar, HSBC has helped lay the foundations of the banking and finance industry and played a part in several milestone developments. Our growth story in Qatar is aligned directly to the country’s economic transformation, which has been shaped by visionary leadership – both in government and in institutions such as the Qatar Central Bank.

Across the Middle East, HSBC covers US$3.5 trillion of GDP, US$2.6 trillion of trade, and processes US$1.1 trillion of customer payments every year. We support the region’s largest transactions and connect global investors to the Gulf’s fast-growing capital markets.

It is this perspective which continues to give us great optimism about the outlook for the country, and the wider region and which makes HSBC truly proud to be celebrating our 70th anniversary in Qatar this year.”

HSBC Qatar background:

• Over seven decades HSBC has grown to become the largest international bank in Qatar.
• HSBC acts as custodian to c.95% of foreign institutional investor assets.
• With comprehensive investment banking platform, we are the only bank with full-service onshore and offshore private banking capabilities.