{"id":19969,"date":"2025-08-27T19:40:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T19:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=19969"},"modified":"2025-08-27T19:40:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T19:40:49","slug":"hsbcs-swiss-unit-culls-wealthy-middle-east-clients-amid-regulator-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/?p=19969","title":{"rendered":"HSBC\u2019s Swiss unit culls wealthy Middle East clients amid regulator scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HSBC\u2019s Swiss private bank has launched a cull of more than 1,000 wealthy Middle Eastern clients, as it faces ongoing scrutiny from regulators over high-risk clients.<\/p>\n

The bank will be terminating its relationship with a slew of customers from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon and Egypt \u2014 many of whom have assets of more than $100mn \u2014 according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

HSBC\u2019s Swiss private bank has informed affected clients that they will no longer be able to use its services and will be sending out letters advising them to move their accounts elsewhere in the coming months, one of the people said.<\/p>\n

Barry O\u2019Byrne, chief executive of HSBC\u2019s International Wealth and Premier Banking unit, said the bank had an \u201cabsolute commitment to both our Middle East and Swiss Wealth businesses\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cSwitzerland plays a key role in how we support clients globally \u2014 it\u2019s one of our core wealth hubs. Our strategy is to significantly grow our Wealth business and we have been doing so successfully. This strategy will see continued investment in both our Middle East and Swiss businesses to deliver best in class service to our customers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The changes, which were first reported by Bloomberg News, come amid an ongoing crackdown by the Swiss banking watchdog, Finma, on HSBC for its vetting procedures of some high-risk clients.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2024, HSBC\u2019s Swiss private bank was barred from taking on prominent public figures as clients after Finma found that the bank had breached anti-money laundering legislation. The regulator found that HSBC had not undertaken the appropriate due diligence for multiple transactions between 2002 and 2015 in which more than $300mn was transferred between Lebanon and Switzerland.<\/p>\n

The watchdog found that HSBC had \u201cfailed to recognise the indications of money laundering presented by these transactions; it likewise failed to satisfy requirements for the initiation and continuation of customer relationships with politically exposed persons, and was thus in serious breach of its due diligence obligations\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finma ordered HSBC to undertake an anti-money laundering review for all its high-risk relationships with prominent public clients, known as politically exposed persons (PEPs). Finma said the bank could not start new relationships with PEPs until it had completed its review.<\/p>\n

The bank designates clients with more than SFr100mn ($124.7mn) as being \u201chigh risk\u201d and requiring greater due diligence. A client\u2019s risk rating also takes into account other factors, including nationality.<\/p>\n

HSBC revealed last month that authorities in France and Switzerland were investigating it \u201cin connection with alleged money laundering offences in respect of two historical banking relationships\u201d.<\/p>\n

As HSBC is forced to cut back its client list, rivals are bolstering their wealth management teams in the Middle East to service the needs of ultra-high net worth individuals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While HSBC has long dominated the region\u2019s capital market activity, it has lagged behind in private banking, and has seen the exit of several senior bankers in the division. Its Swiss unit hired Aladdin Hangari, who was a senior wealth manager at Credit Suisse, in 2023, to increase its wealth management presence in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free HSBC\u2019s Swiss private bank has launched a cull of more than 1,000 wealthy Middle Eastern clients, as it faces ongoing scrutiny from regulators over high-risk clients. The bank will be terminating its relationship with a slew of customers from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon and Egypt \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[335,7936,1217,6961,799,575,1297,709,1370,560],"class_list":{"0":"post-19969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-financial-crime","8":"tag-clients","9":"tag-culls","10":"tag-east","11":"tag-hsbcs","12":"tag-middle","13":"tag-regulator","14":"tag-scrutiny","15":"tag-swiss","16":"tag-unit","17":"tag-wealthy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finderica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}