HSBC and Enterprise — a dynamic partnership for a dynamic region

By Todd Wilcox

The growing demand from international investors for exposure to the rapidly developing economies of the Middle East and North Africa reflect what those of us doing business in this region have always known — that the dynamism and opportunities here are among the very best in the world.

In my role as CEO for HSBC in Egypt, where we are the largest international bank in the country and in a region where HSBC has the largest presence of any international bank, I get a privileged perspective on the scale of the opportunity ahead.

So when the topic of sponsoring the Enterprise news platform and providing its readers with insightful content came up, it was clear to me that this was an opportunity to share some of that perspective with the domestic and international C-suite audience that Enterprise serves.

We intend to use our partnership as a channel to reach readers with interesting economic and business research, real world case studies of customer initiatives, and our thought leadership on the transition to net zero and the wider environmental social and governance (ESG) agenda — a key talking point among all executives I meet, especially with the fast-approaching COP27 climate summit on the horizon.

In particular, I intend our partnership with Enterprise to be a venue for readers to explore the theme of international connectivity that permeates the Middle East and the potential that offers to expand businesses and support the growth and development of the region’s economies.

Take Egypt as an example. It is a main artery for the flow of world trade on the sea route linking Asia and Europe — about 12% of global goods trade passes through the Suez Canal. That’s about USD 1 tn every year — and so the strength of our trade and transaction banking business in Egypt is a key competitive advantage. Meanwhile the wealth that trade creates is key to the decision we’ve made to invest in our premium banking proposition to more than double our retail customer numbers in Egypt. And we’re strengthening our capabilities in sustainable finance, which is a clear priority in Egypt.

The substantial on-the-ground presence and heritage that HSBC has in the Middle East — the origins of which date back to 1889; the channels and flows of global capital we see; and the role we can play in opening those up for our clients, particularly in connecting customers from Asia, Europe and the US to the huge potential there is in Egypt (and helping customers in Egypt expand elsewhere in the region) will be at the heart of the content that we share as part of our partnership with Enterprise.

Todd Wilcox is CEO and deputy chair of HSBC Egypt. We last interviewed him on 2 June 2022 here. HSBC’s column on Enterprise appears every second Monday.