in August 2010, it was closed in December 2015. In 1959, HSBC purchased the London-headquartered British Bank of the Middle East, the former
Imperial Bank of Persia that had been renamed in 1952 following expropriation from its historic operations in
Iran. By then, the BBME had offices in
Bahrain,
Kuwait,
Jordan,
Lebanon,
Libya,
Morocco,
Oman,
Qatar,
Saudi Arabia,
Syria, the
Trucial States (later
UAE),
Tunisia, and
Yemen. BBME also opened a branch in
Djibouti in 1975 that it closed in 1986, having failed to adapt itself to the market. HSBC operated in the Palestinian Territories until 31 December 2015. All operations of HSBC, including personal and commercial banking and headquarters in
Ramallah, were closed by 31 December 2015. In 1978, the BBME's operations in Saudi Arabia was transferred to a new venture, the
Saudi British Bank, in which HSBC held a minority stake of 40 percent. In June 2016, the bank again transferred its place of incorporation and head office from
Jersey to
Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai, UAE. On 16 November 2016, HSBC announced the sale of its Corporate, Retail Banking and Wealth Management business in Lebanon to
BLOM Bank. The sale was completed on 13 June 2017. All employees were transferred to BLOM Bank S.A.L. as part of the agreement. == HSBC Algeria ==