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The story
British Bank of Iran and the Middle East (1950)
The British Bank of Iran and the Middle East (which in 1952 became British Bank of the Middle East - BBME) opened branches in Jeddah and Khobar in 1950. The Jeddah branch in particular depended for its profits on the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca). HSBC acquired BBME in 1959.
Saudi Arab British Bank (1978)
In 1976 the central bank enacted its sweeping policy of banking sector Saudization to address foreign banks' domination of the sector and its impact on the Saudi economy. Consequently, it directed all foreign bank branches to incorporate in Saudi Arabia (i.e., become Saudi companies with Saudi capital) and limited their parent companies to ownership of 40% of these new entities.
As a result, HSBC was incorporated in Saudi Arabia in 1978 and opened up to local ownership, renaming itself the Saudi Arab British Bank (SABB). Ownership became 60% Saudi and 40% HSBC, and HSBC has a technical services agreement with the bank.
HSBC Holdings of Britain held a 49% stake in the joint venture with SABB holding 51% until October 2019 when HSBC Group acquired shares from SABB to become the major shareholder with a 51% stake.
Merger with Alawwal Bank (2019)
On May 16, 2018, SAB, formerly known as SABB, and Alawwal Bank (formerly Saudi Hollandi Bank) entered into a non-binding agreement on a deal for SABB to acquire Alawwal. The agreement concluded nearly one year of negotiations, and SABB was represented by U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs in the transaction. Alawwal Bank, as per agreement, ceased to exist as a legal entity and was absorbed into SABB, creating Saudi Arabia's third largest bank with a market cap of $17.2 billion.
SABB shareholders owned 73% of the new bank, which is chaired by Saudi businesswoman Lubna Al Olayan. The final agreement on the merger deal was announced one week after the Saudi government launched the Financial Sector Development Program, an executive program aimed at overhauling the Saudi financial sector to create an effective capital market capable of supporting the goals of the Vision 2030 economic reform plans.
The merger of the two banks was completed on 16 June 2019. The integration of the two banks was planned to be completed in about 18 months.
The integration was completed in 18 months, which resulted in the retention of the brand name "Saudi British Bank".
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On 14 March 2021, Alawwal & SABB fully integrated in historic bank merger. The combined bank uses HSBC's familiar hexagon logo and typeface in its branding.
From Wikipedia’s article on Saudi Awwal Bank, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5