HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) said it would stop
selling Shariah-compliant products in the U.K., the UAE,
Bahrain, Bangladesh, Singapore and Mauritius.

The bank will continue offering wholesale Islamic financing
in those countries, and the change is part of the company’s
review into its businesses, it said in an e-mailed statement
today.

HSBC was facing local competition in the businesses it
chose to exit, which represented 17 percent of the bank’s
Islamic business revenue, Patrick Humphris, HSBC spokesman, told
Bloomberg in a phone interview from London today.

“These are smaller markets where we do not have sufficient
scale,” he said. “We did face tough competition. Clearly there
will be a number of other providers of Islamic banking products
in those markets, and it’s about having enough scale so that
this business is economic and makes the right return.”

The bank said in its statement it would focus its Islamic
finance offering in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia. It
will also continue to offer Islamic bonds or sukuk products
through its operations in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

HSBC is the world’s biggest sukuk underwriter, leading the
league table ahead of Malayan Banking Bhd. (MAY) and CIMB Group
Holdings Bhd. (CIMB) after handling 78 sales valued at $10 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Howard Mustoe in London at
hmustoe@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Maedler at
cmaedler@bloomberg.net