Industry Finance Website www.bacb.co.uk Founded 1972 | Products Financial Services Headquarters London, United Kingdom Parent organization Libyan Foreign Bank | |
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Key people Robert Douglas Dowie, Chairman
Paul Hartwell, CEO | ||
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The British Arab Commercial Bank PLC is a UK incorporated bank which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority ("PRA") and regulated by the PRA and the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"). It was founded in 1972 as UBAF Limited and changed its name to UBAF Bank Limited in 1977. It initially operated as an affiliate of Midland Bank and subsequently of HSBC following that bank's takeover of the Midland Bank Group. The Bank adopted the name British Arab Commercial Bank Ltd in 1996, later reregistering as a plc. In 2010 HSBC sold its 49% shareholding to Libyan Foreign Bank ("LFB"), a subsidiary of the Central Bank of Libya ("CBL").
The bank’s largest single shareholder is Libyan Foreign Bank (87.80%), in overall control of the bank with the other shareholders being Banque Centrale Populaire (6.10%), and Banque Extérieure d’Algérie (6.10%). On 2 June 2009 the Bank changed its corporate status from that of a private to a public company. The bank maintains a representative office in Algiers, and another in Tripoli, Libya.
The bank was established in 1972 as UBAF Limited, with Midland Bank as the largest single shareholder. The bank’s name was changed to UBAF Bank Limited on 4 January 1977. It became an affiliate of the HSBC Group when HSBC acquired Midland Bank in 1992. The bank's name took its current form on 4 March 1996.
In 2009 Commercial Bank of Egypt sold its 8% stake. At the time, the other shareholders were HSBC (49%), Libyan Foreign Bank (26%), Bank Al-Maghrib (8%), and Banque Extérieure d’Algérie (8%). At some point Banque Centrale Populaire bought out Bank Al-Maghrib.