BBME BOMBAY & DOHA 1953-58
Roger Backett
BOMBAY
Five BBME Officers (Max Tagg, Bill Lamont, Arnold Crowe, Stevens-Guille, myself & wife, June) arrived in Bombay in early December 53 the bank having come to an agreement to take over the business of the ailing National Handelsbank in India. The move would enable us to cash in on the very profitable correspondent relationship which had benefited Lloyds Bank for many years and give us an entry into Indian business.
Handelsbank had 7 Dutch Officers in Bombay, no local officers, and the accounts were entirely in Dutch and in those days no mechanisation! I had the fortune to be the branch accountant and all of us worked night and day throughout December to sort things out amidst a somewhat uncooperative Dutch crew. It was at this time we met Dickie Smorthwaite and Paddy Ryan of HSBC: they obviously took pity on us and invited us up to the bachelors mess for drinks on New Year’s Day where they taught me how to prepare high octane Pimms! WOW!
I recall that I bought an ancient Rover car from one of them about that time which ran me into quite high repair bills however it did get us up the Western Ghats to Poona on a couple of occasions.! In November we left Bombay on the good ship Caledonia to Liverpool
DOHA
I arrived in Doha at the end of 3 months leave in February 1955. The branch had been opened in the previous summer / autumn by Brian Brisby who was subsequently assigned to other duties. During the intervening period until my arrival the post had been filled by a rather arrogant young sprog George Davey. To illustrate this point, on my first day in the bank Margaret Edwards the very stately looking matron at the hospital called and asked about the state of her account only to be told by George “I don’t know what you are worried about, you middle aged spinsters are well off” whereupon she transferred her account to the Eastern Bank.
The staff I remember from that time included a Kuwaiti commercial assistant Sagar, a Bahraini Ahmed, Robert Cooper (B officer) and Lucian Da Gama from India, as cashier, Rashid a ferrash who reputedly made the best Qahwa in Doha and last but by no means least a bright young Qatari lad, Jassim Abbas, for whom Brian had invented the designation of “Cadet Clerk” as he was too young to be taken on as a clerk. History was to prove what a good investment this turned out to be.
The Bank was no more than a typical mud, block and farroush structure situated on the south side of what 3 years later became the clock tower Square or roundabout. The Treasury was protected by an enormous Hobbs & Hart Vault door but 10 minutes work with a pickaxe would have made a hole in the mud walls enabling any robber to enter. Immediately to the left looking out was an older and rather more elegant two storey building which housed Geoffrey Hancock, the Political Adviser who had his office on the ground floor and his residence on the first. Further to the left was the Palace complex. Looking out and somewhat to the right was Her Britannic Majesty’s Agency with Derek Carden the Agent who also lived over the “shop”.
Banking was divided between ourselves and the Eastern Bank the latter having a head start on us; the prime business being the Oil Monies which were paid in Sterling monthly thru London by QPC into the Rulers a/c. An interbank agreement was signed at our respective head offices by which we would share these revenues and both quote the same rate for conversion to Indian Rupees (about £1 = Rs 13.3 ): our day to day transactions with the palace were conducted with Sayed Marzooki ( of whom the less said the better) who held Sheikh Ali’s purse strings. This business generated the need for regular supplies of Rupees most of which did not recirculate in the Doha market but went out to other Gulf centers, mainly Bahrain, to pay for goods and services not available within Qatar. These we obtained from our Bahrain branch and I used to fly there once a month with a couple of large suitcases and bring them back stuffed to the brim with 25 / 30 lakhs of Rupee notes – a large amount in those days: I think we insured the consignment but there were no security arrangements to protect the cash or ME.
I would take the opportunity of shopping in Bahrain while there and bring back frozen meats etc from the Bahrain Cold Store Co. Airport customs at Doha were very relaxed about these trips so long as I did not bring in any alcohol. The flight to Bahrain by Gulf Air’s Dehaviland Dove took about an hour and I would often sit up with the pilot. This happy state of affairs continued until the Ottoman Bank opened up: they signed the interbank agreement re the oil revenues and proceeded to break it almost immediately although they denied this. They had a particular advantage in that they had as manager Mr. Zarouby who, being a Lebanese, did not require a translator when dealing with the devious Sayed Marzooqi: after a while I managed to get hold of a voucher which demonstrated quite clearly the Ottoman had broken the agreement and on sending this to London received a Telegram that the OB had withdrawn from the agreement.
Zaroubi was a highly unprincipled soul but I guess he was good for their bank: I particularly remember his marketing strategy for new personal accounts: he would wheedle customers into opening accounts by fishing out a Rupee coin from his pocket and saying “I will open an account for you and put this Rupee into to start it and here is a cheque book”! As a Scottish banker I knew there said “This is not banking, it’s prostitution”! Was this the start of today’s strategy where banks offer items such as alarm clocks & cash (First Direct) to those who open accounts ?
Later the Arab Bank opened up and conducted their affairs in an exemplary manner and we had a most cordial relationship with their manager We built up good Commercial business not only with the likes of Ali bin Ali, Mohamed Abdulatif Almana, Ebrahim Yousef Jaidah, Ahmed Al Manai, Ebrahim Al Gosaibi and Al Suwaidi as well as with the Laries, Emaddedahis and other Iranian traders in the souk. In those days, perhaps even as it is now, we were pestered by the members of the ruling family, no matter how distant, for loans. Every member of the Al Thani family received a monthly stipend thru the Civil List and tried to borrow against this. The birth of yet another son saw the father rushing to the bank to borrow against his new son’s stipend the amount of which depended on his place in the pecking order. Loans to the Al Thani family even to the top echelon were a headache; the individual personally guaranteed them and his stipend was paid direct to the bank but instances of their canceling the mandate in favour of another bank were common. There was little that one could do to enforce payments against the more senior members of the family
The line of succession in the family played an important factor in this respect: Sheikh Ali bin Abdulla Al Thani was the ruler but opinion was sharply divided as to whether his son Ahmed would succeed or that it would divert to the Beni Hamed branch of which Khalifa was the eldest. The PA assured us that pursuant to a tribal agreement entered into some years earlier this would happen but one could never be sure. We backed the Beni Hamed and the EB the Beni Ali. I met Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad on many occasions and found him a most congenial character as was Sheikh Jassim, his brother. Years after I left Sheikh Ahmed bin Ali succeeded his father but I recall he was deposed by Sheikh Khalifa who in turn was deposed by his own son.
Before leaving London I had been warned to keep on the right side of Abdulla Darwish Fakhroo. This astute gentleman of Iranian origin had somehow insinuated himself into the confidence of Sheikh Ali – probably through having rendered him past services and had assumed the role of the sinister Grand Wazir of Arabian Nights lore; his one eye saw more than the rest of us saw with two!. He thus had considerable influence at court and used this to great personal advantage acquiring a disproportionate share of representation of foreign companies anxious to cash in on the anticipated boom. To be fair he had a relatively efficient set up run by Victor Hashim his Lebanese general manager.
The Darwish Canteen, a general store, not a canteen as we would understand the word, on the outskirts of the souk was widely patronized; it was about the only place you could buy canned and dry goods and clothing required by the foreigners. The scope was extended to include luxury goods such as high class watches, perfume etc. in which it did a good trade. I recall a visit by a rep from Guerlain, the French parfumiers which resulted in us opening a very large L/C: for their delightful fragrances; I wonder if he realized these were not primarily destined for the ladies but for the well to do Sheikhs!
Business ethics were in general somewhat different to what visitors were accustomed as the following anecdotes will reveal. I was visited one day by a rep for Royal Insurance who wished to develop business with Abdulla Darwish. I did warn him to make sure there were no loopholes in any arrangements he concluded but HE knew how to handle his business. Six months later he called again to say that Abdulla had not paid the premium on a charter load of cement. He had not understood that Abdulla only expected to pay such premiums if there was a claim to be made.
On another occasion, Ebrahim Al Gosaibi opened an L/C for a Chrysler top of the range model ordered by Sheikh Ali; I think the price was Rs 40,000 say £3,000. In those days ships could not enter Doha Bay and cargo had to be lightered in on barges or on a launch (dhow) and there was no secure area for cargo once landed at the jetty. The Chrysler duly arrived and Gosaibi paid for the documents only to find the car had disappeared from the jetty. It had apparently been spotted by a younger son of Sheikh Ali who had driven it off. When this became known to Gosaibi he went to the palace and requested the Ruler to pay up but was told “First bring me the car and then I will pay”. He traced the car, challenged the young sheikh and was told “ My father gave it to me” It appeared he had taken the car driven up to the palace presented it to his father as a gift only to be told that he did not want it and donated it back to the son. When I left Doha a year later Gosaibi was still trying to recover the amount.
Abdulla Darwish had an elder brother Jassim and a younger sibling, Abdulrahman. The former was of a devout nature and an expert on pearls whilst the latter was something of a roué and a remarkable number of kids in Doha bore more than a passing resemblance to him. There was no “Bank House” as such: we had a flat above Gosaibi’s car shops – you could not call them a “showroom” this was located just outside the souk area. One day he decided to demolish the wall between them to create more room and our bedroom floor sank some inches.
We had no air conditioning when we arrived but a couple of units were installed in the bedrooms soon afterwards however the power supply could not be relied on. A few weeks later Alec Gillibrand was posted to the branch as the accountant; he had to share our accommodation.
The GM, Harold Musker, being due to visit Doha mid December 55 preparations were made for his arrival. Although it was still hot, rain was to be expected and a week before his arrival we had the flat distempered (emulsion paint did not exist in those days) and someone came to fill cracks in the roof. We went to the beach leaving the ceiling fans on full blast and on returning found tar had leaked through and been dispersed onto the walls of the sitting room and on to the rugs below. We managed to get the place cleaned up in time for a buffet supper for westerners in the sitting room. As a desert we had ordered a large ice cream gateau from the Bahrain cold store company; this had been rushed from the airport to the Shell deep freeze on arrival and was brought to the flat at the last moment, opened up by the house boy and brought in with great pride. Imagine my embarrassment to find the words “To commemorate the opening of the Bahrain Cold Store” inscribed on the top! Still it went down a treat.
The following evening we held a traditional mutton grab on the roof for our Arab customers. There being no hotel accommodation in Doha we had to put the GM up in the accountant’s bedroom and he stayed with one of the Eastern Bank chaps. At this time June was great with child which caused our guest considerable concern. However the expected arrival date of 25th December was delayed until 31st December when I was woken up by June in the early hours needing to get to the hospital in a hurry. The Humber Snipe would not start in the early damp conditions until both Alec and I had wrenched our guts out cranking the bloody thing it but it finally responded.
Being the year end I could not escape my duties at the bank and about 10 o clock received a phone call to say we had a daughter. She was the first European baby born in the (old) Govt. hospital there. The New Year was heralded in at the Shell mess and a very drunken yours truly visited the hospital in the early hours of 1956 to wish mother and daughter a happy new year.
Shopping was extremely limited and much had to be imported from Bahrain: this included a regular supply of frozen meat, fruit and veg. on the Gulf Air flights. Alcohol could not be bought in Doha but provision existed for westerners to obtain a Liquor License from the Political Agent and this was shipped in from Bahrain.
In 1956 the powers that be decided that we should have a proper building of our own and I was instructed to find a suitable site. We finally decided to rent and reclaim an area of sea bed opposite the premises of Mohamed Abdulatif Almana which faced on to what constituted a corniche at that time. He had, as I recall it, reclamation rights extending 200’ into the sea across the width of his property. No one knew what the sea bed was like and our architect Wilson came out from London to have a shufti- not that you could see the bottom some 5 – 6 feet down.
I had to take him out in a small boat and then don my snorkel and goggles go down with an iron spike and see how far I could hammer it in. This highly unsophisticated test proving satisfactory tenders were invited for the construction of a retaining wall to be constructed from farouche and for in-filling. The lowest bid was submitted by Abdulla Darwish. He had been invited to bid purely as a political move and I suspect the reason for its acceptance was that we were trying to recover some of his debt.
It soon became apparent that his foreman did not understand our precise requirements and I had to swim again to delineate the property and supervise manufacture of templates for the profile of the retaining wall and get things started. All in a day’s work ! Eventually the filling was completed, plans drawn up for the new bank and for two houses out by the new hospital, contracts signed and work put in hand under the supervision of John Tester our clerk of works. About that time our flat lease expired and we arranged for somewhat superior accommodation to be built over the newly constructed showroom of Ebrahim Yousef Jaidah.
This was near the Power house but far from ensuring an adequate power supply the increasing demand meant we faced frequent power cuts. Some kind soul at the power station found he had a gash 15kw generator which he installed for us in a little lean to at the rear of the building without cost and this ensured a regular supply of electricity. All I had to do was fill up with diesel and carry out daily maintenance.
We used to go fishing off a little jetty at Umm Said on a Friday morning leaving the house at 6.00 hours and returning by 10.00 when it started to get hot. Sadly increased security arrangements towards the end of our stay curtailed this pastime. An occasional launch trip could be arranged though through obliging customers. We caught Hamour, Chanard, Yib, Skipjack, Sting Rays, small shark which made excellent fish pie and garfish up to a meter long.
We enjoyed the trips out in to the interior: visiting Umm Salal one day with the family I was invited to have Qahwa with the local Sheikh; it was intimated that June and baby should go visit the Harem. Afterwards she told me that true to Arab hospitality the ladies had offered to breast feed our daughter: this was resisted and June was thankful to get out soon after. Talking about this later to Dr Kingston, the head of medical services he replied that it was a good thing the offer was rejected as the women in that village were known to have syphilitic milk.
1956 saw the Suez crisis and European families were evacuated to the fort for their safety. We knew nothing of these precautions until a couple of days later when things had quietened down. There was a demonstration outside the Political Agency and I stupidly went up on the bank roof to get a better look until some stones were hurled in my direction. The demo was quietened by the Ruler’s fedouwi wielding their camel sticks.
At that time QPC was the only producing company and it was predicted that the reserves would run out in twenty years or so. Shell had a couple of rigs offshore but production was negligible; they were unfortunate to lose one of these when in the course of a move a shamal blew up causing it to shift on its barge and partially capsize.
To accommodate QPC staff, mainly Indians, wanting to remit money home we opened an agency once a week at UmmSaid and Dukhan and drove over in the heat of early afternoon to open up for a couple of hours. Sagar, our commercial assistant did not stay long after my arrival and returned to Kuwait. After a period without a commercial assistant we found Ali Behzad, a Dubai man or maybe he found us. He was an enormous help in my dealings with all and sundry, my Arabic not being as good as I would have liked.
Staff were augmented by newcomers contracted from Bombay: but they threw up the problem of finding accommodation for them in a nonexistent market. Our Cadet clerk continued to make excellent progress through the hoops and it was evident he would attain senior status if he could be persuaded to stay with the bank: he was also turning into a useful soccer player.
I was relieved in 1958 by Ken Jefferies who announced on arrival that he had no intention in staying in this lousy dump. He contracted TB within weeks and was sent home for treatment being replaced by John Lindesay who had joined the bank in London on the same day as me in June 1947.
I was posted back to Bombay as sub-manager: some months after my arrival there a bomb went off in the vault in Doha blowing many lakhs of rupees to smithereens and I had to arrange with the Reserve Bank of India to send staff out there to piece together what they could. It seems that our cashier Abdulla Humid, an Omani, had been pressurized by dissident elements from Do far province to put the bomb in the actual cash safe under the threat that his family in Oman would be executed. The RBI did an amazing job – we paid for their services of course but I believe some 70% of the notes were patched up and redeemed.