Business & Finance Club - Doha : HSBC Amanah today opened its first branch dedicated to Shariah compliant products and services in Qatar. To mark the occasion, HSBC Group Chief Executive Officer, Michael Geoghegan, and Governor of the Qatar Central Bank, H.E.Sheikh Abdullah bin Saoud Al Thani performed the opening ceremony today at the branch based at Salwa Road in Doha.
The branch, HSBC's first dedicated Islamic banking branch in the Mena region outside of Saudi Arabia, will serve retail and corporate customers. The range of services includes HSBC Amanah Premier, an international Islamic banking service, which is an expansion of HSBC's market-leading premium banking service HSBC Premier; HSBC Advance, an international current account and banking service proposition, as well as international trade finance and corporate banking services.

Speaking at the opening ceremony in Doha, Michael Geoghegan, HSBC Group Chief Executive Officer, said, "As the leading international bank in the Middle East, HSBC is strongly placed for the tremendous growth opportunities in providing Islamic banking services here in Qatar and across the region. By combining our Islamic banking expertise in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia with our international reach, we can meet the increasingly sophisticated requirements of Islamic banking customers in many parts of the world."

Since its launch in 1998, HSBC Amanah has continued to grow and now has a presence in the Middle East, South East Asia and Europe. It has a significant physical distribution network and a team of dedicated Islamic banking professionals in its global financial centers namely, New York, London, Riyadh, Dubai, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

Growth in Islamic banking exceeds that of conventional banking in Qatar, and across the Middle East. After growing at double-digit compounded annual rates over the past few years, the industry is forecast to continue growing at about 20% annually until 2012, according to Oliver Wyman, a research firm.

Abdul Hakeem Mostafawi, Chief Executive Officer HSBC Qatar, said, "The opening of this branch underlines our commitment to Islamic finance in Qatar and the Middle East. This is a milestone for HSBC Qatar and HSBC Amanah is delighted to support this growing need with the opening of this new branch."

Over the past 50 years, HSBC has reached a number of milestones in Qatar such as being the first bank to install an ATM in 1986, and lead managing Qatar's first Islamic sukuk for the government in 2004. HSBC is currently the biggest foreign bank in Qatar, offering retail, commercial, institutional and private banking services through a network of six branches, 22 ATMs and 550 employees.
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