Dubai, March 10, 2026, 01:10 GST
HSBC Holdings Plc on Monday reiterated its steady confidence in Gulf economies, even as tensions with Iran persist. That stance carries weight: Reuters calculations using company data indicate the bank’s operations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia have generated roughly 5% of total group profits annually over the last five years.
Chief Executive Georges Elhedery is in the thick of an overhaul at HSBC, with the latest statement arriving as the bank restructures into East-West divisions. Eleven business exits have been announced so far, and the profitability target is now set at 17% or higher through 2028.
“Our conviction in the GCC’s fundamentals and its future is unchanged,” Elhedery said, pointing to the six-country Gulf bloc. HSBC, he added, remains confident in the region’s long-term resilience and potential. Gulf News
Signs of that wager are visible in the market. HSBC rolled out a UAE asset-management unit in January, debuting 10 onshore funds. Regional wealth boss Dinesh Sharma described the move as targeting “the significant and long-term wealth opportunity in the UAE.” Reuters
Awkward timing for Dubai stocks. The main index finished down 2.8% Monday, with oil surging over 11% as traders worried the war might continue to snarl flows through the Strait of Hormuz—the critical route moving about a fifth of the world’s oil.
HSBC, for its part, is striking a different note than some rivals. JPMorgan and Citigroup last week instructed Middle East employees to work remotely, while Standard Chartered took a different tack—advising staff to hold off on regional travel and, in a separate move, bumping up its 2026 Brent forecast. The bank cited rising upside risk if the conflict escalates.
Banks aren’t staring at major direct losses here. According to Pedro Machado, a senior supervisor at the European Central Bank, exposures to the conflict zone are “pretty contained.” Still, he flagged the risk: elevated energy prices could spell “recessionary potential impacts.” Aberdeen’s chief economist, Paul Diggle, chimed in too—pointing out that if oil prices remain elevated, the global economic picture could tilt “more stagflationary,” meaning sluggish growth paired with sticky inflation. Reuters
Client money flows remain tricky to gauge. Reuters reported last week that some wealthy Asians are looking at moving funds out of Dubai. Singapore private wealth lawyer Ryan Lin told Reuters one of his clients wanted to know how quickly they could “transfer everything to Singapore.” In contrast, Dhruba Jyoti Sengupta, chief executive at WRISE Private Middle East in Dubai, said he hadn’t seen “serious capital flight discussions.” Reuters
