HSBC’s Swiss private bank is cutting ties with more than 1k wealthy clients from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Lebanon, many of whom hold assets above USD 100 mn, Bloomberg first reported last week, citing unspecified insider sources. The affected — and unnamed — clients are being told they will no longer be able to use the bank’s services, with letters going out over the coming months instructing them to move accounts elsewhere.

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The bank is reportedly looking to lower its exposure to high-risk clients, the sources told the business news information service. The news follows continuing regulatory oversight from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority after the financial watchdog blocked the Swiss-based bank in 2024 from entering into relationships with “politically exposed persons” that may be subject to corruption and ordered an external audit of high-risk client relationships.

REMEMBER- HSBC Egypt and the HSBC Private Bank in Switzerland are legally and operationally separate entities, each falling under the laws and regulations of the countries they are in.

The move doesn’t mean HSBC is bowing out of the region, where it maintains its “absolute commitment” to its clients. “[We will] continue to have deep roots in the region and are fully committed to our customers who are at the heart of everything we do,” International Wealth and Premier Banking CEO Barry O’Byrne said in a statement seen by EnterpriseAM.

HSBC’s current strategy to grow its Wealth business will see “continued investment in both [its] Middle East and Swiss businesses to deliver best-in-class service to [its] customers,” he said

This isn’t the first time that our part of the world has caused concern for the Swiss regulator, after it said last year that the Swiss bank did not properly vet USD 300 mn in Lebanon-Switzerland transactions between 2002 and 2015. HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm is also under investigation in Switzerland for alleged money laundering linked to Lebanon’s former Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.

HSBC’s Swiss private bank has been central to the group’s global wealth ambitions but has repeatedly been hit by regulatory probes. The latest purge underscores how compliance pressure is reshaping global banks’ relationships with politically exposed clients in the Middle East.

The news got traction in the world’s other main business outlets, including the FinancialTimes and Bloomberg.

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