HSBC, QIB make USD 100 mln Islamic trade finance deal

The financial institutions’ refinance trade facility is a new addition to HSBC’s Islamic product suite, according to a press statement by QIB. While details of the agreement are scant, the deal could prove strategically important for HSBC and suggest that there may be more business with Qatar banks and businesses to come.

Diplomatic relations between Qatar and other Middle East-based powers, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have only recently been restored after an embargo was imposed on Qatar in 2017 for the country’s alleged support of Islamist groups. The blockade on Qatar proved economically costly, with the country’s land border shut, Qatari ships prohibited from docking at ports, and much of the region’s airspace closed to Qatari planes.