The Telegraph reports that HSBC is cutting its ties with Libya with the closure of its representative office in Tripoli, ending a presence in the country that dates back more than 50 years.
The office, which manages investments in the North African state, opened in 2006 as part of an expansion in the Middle East under former chief executive Stephen Green, although its operations in Libya date back to 1959, when it acquired The British Bank of the Middle East.
It also held a stake in the British Arab Commercial Bank, which finances projects in the Middle East, but sold the holding to the Libyan Foreign Bank in 2010.
HSBC was fined $1.9 billion by US authorities in 2012 for violating sanctions on Libya.
(Source: Telegraph)
