The British Arab Commercial Bank Limited (BACB), based in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, is a wholesale

Wholesale

Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...

 banking institution providing trade and project finance for Arab markets. The bank’s largest single shareholder at 49% is HSBC Bank Middle East

HSBC Bank Middle East

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited is the largest and most widely represented international bank in the Middle East. The bank has received several awards in various categories.-History:...

, a member of the HSBC Group. BACB’s other shareholders are Libyan Foreign Bank (26%), Central Bank of Egypt

Central Bank of Egypt

The Central Bank of Egypt is the central bank of Egypt. The bank's paid-up capital is 1000 million Egyptian pounds. According to its website, the CBE:*Regulates banks and the banking system of Egypt...

 (8%), Bank Al-Maghrib

Bank Al-Maghrib

The Bank Al-Maghrib is the central bank of the Kingdom of Morocco. It was founded in 1959, and is based in Rabat. It holds reserves of foreign currency with an estimated worth of USD 36 billion . In addition to currency management, the Bank Al-Maghrib also supervises a number of privatized banks...

 (Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

; 8%), and Banque Extérieure d’Algérie (8%). The bank has representative offices in Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

 and Tripoli

Tripoli

Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

 (Libya).

The bank was established on 1972 as UBAF Limited, with Midland Bank

Midland Bank

Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836...

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.