Niche banker, par excellence

Being simple is complex these days. But not for all and certainly not for Abdul Hakeem Mostafawi, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, who wants to be remembered as a “simple man, with no great ambitions”. An unlikely comment from someone who has reached high up the ladder of his career path. But that is exactly what sets Mostafawi apart from his ilk. By Aparajita Mukherjee

The pronounced trait of this understated banker is a quiet confidence that is born of sound knowledge and well rounded exposure to his trade.

“It would be unwise for anyone to think that we will not be impacted in Qatar by the global financial crisis. However, HSBC believes that Qatar has a prudent economic management system and strategy, guided by HH the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and it will be relatively protected from the turbulence in terms of fundamentals for the economy. In fact, we see this as an excellent opportunity to leapfrog to the front of the region in terms of competitiveness, diversification of its economy and attractiveness as an investment destination. We at HSBC are keenly promoting Qatar in our global franchise accordingly.”

Business strategy worldwide
Within the global climate of business uncertainty, HSBC successfully completed a record $17.7 billion rights issue early last month. Setting this as the immediate backdrop, the CEO says, “The successful rights issue that was completed is an international statement of confidence in our business strategy. HSBC is unswerving to due diligence and is firm in our commitment to stand by our loyal customers. We will continue to do business responsibly by minimising risk and implement cost effectiveness in daily operations. Being a conservative Bank has helped us in being relatively untouched by the worldwide recession. So we continue to be well capitalised and buoyant throughout the 82 countries that we are part of.”

Abdul Hakeem Mostafawi, CEO, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited

Seamless local operations
HSBC is one of the oldest foreign banks in the country. Segregating the region on the basis of the economies, he says, “It will not be right to club the entire GCC into one basket. There are economies like Qatar, Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi which are resource-based and have been less impacted. There are others which are tourism or service-oriented and will be more impacted.

“The vision of the leadership to establish Qatar as a business destination for the world, on the back of solid investments in the energy sector, especially natural gas since the 1990s, will stand the country in good stead.

One other positive factor that is working well for the country is the recent bond issue of $3 billion, which has been received very well by the international market.

“And riding the buoyancy of Qatar, HSBC is confident that the country will offer many opportunities to do sound and profitable business in all business sectors. This is amply borne out of our healthy results.”

As the world’s local bank, HSBC’s focus will always be to serve the local needs within our global strategy. “We don’t change our values, ethics, standards and procedures, but we tailor-make our products and services to ensure that we serve the local market optimally.

“At HSBC, we are also pro-active in our Qatarisation strategy and have been reaping the fruits of success over the last 12 months. The commitment to identify and develop local talent is high on the agenda and efforts will continue in future. This is important to ensure that we live up to our promise to be the World’s Local Bank.”

Segmented focus
Personal loans are a tricky issue here and all banks have tightened lending norms. In this context, “HSBC continues to offer personal loans to customers. However, in the current economic conditions, as with other banks, HSBC is taking a cautious approach while still fulfilling its customers’ needs in this segment.

“Our approach to business is to focus our efforts on the segment we can serve best, with a lot of tailor-made deals that suit a specific

customer. Many of such deals are also a result of cross-selling across our business spectrum. Our business teams are very well trained to do such deals. This is one of the firsts that HSBC offers to the local market.

“We focus on the premier segments as we are offering unique services and products to ensure that we serve these customers optimally – we recently launched a global initiative for premier customers that will also take care of children studying and travelling abroad. Taking care of the entire family’s needs in one package will have definite advantages for these customers. “We are not a mass market bank – we strategise on the basis of our competence within a market and make products that are win-win.”

Transparency, the hallmark
Many customers have a standard complaint against the hidden charges that a bank has. Mostafawi clears these doubts and says, “We’ve got a very clear and transparent communication strategy with all our customers and there should not be any hidden charges. Our business is based on relationships with our customers and through regular interaction either personally, letters, SMS, internet banking etc, we ensure that customers always have the latest information and have a clear understanding of the mechanics of their accounts. This principle relates to personal financial services as well as corporate banking.”