HSBC will become the first company to directly offshore part of its contact centre and IT services operations to Egypt, according to the chief executive officer of the government agency promoting Egypt.

Other companies that operate contact and IT services centres from Egypt are independent firms working on behalf of corporate customers.

'We have a long list of companies that want to come to Egypt to host their IT services,' says Mohammed Omran,chief executive officer of the IT Industry Development Agency (Itida).

HSBC plans to move a 400-seat centre to the country early in 2008. Half of the employees will operate a contact centre and the other half will run IT services. The bank has yet to decide where it will locate the new centre.