It has just been announced that HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (“HBME”) has entered into an initial agreement to acquire the United Arab Emirates onshore retail and commercial banking business of Lloyds TSB Middle East subject to regulatory approvals.

An unexpected move that is likely to please and annoy customers in equal measures. It appears that overall Lloyds TSB offers a better level of service to their personal banking customers than HSBC, so it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out, assuming the merger eventually takes place.