Citigroup and Standard Chartered have begun evacuating staff from their Dubai offices while HSBC closed branches in Qatar on Wednesday after Iranian military officials threatened to target banking interests linked to the United States and Israel in the Gulf region.

Reuters reported that Citigroup told employees to leave its offices in the Dubai International Financial Centre and the Oud Metha district and work from home until further notice, according to an internal memo seen by the news agency. A spokesperson for the bank said it was continuing to take steps to protect staff and had contingency plans in place to maintain operations.

Standard Chartered has also instructed employees in Dubai to work remotely as lenders increase security precautions across the region, according to Reuters. The London-headquartered bank declined to comment on the decision.

HSBC confirmed it had temporarily closed all branches in Qatar for staff and customer safety, according to a notice issued to clients. Georges Elhedery, HSBC’s chief executive, said earlier this week that the bank’s “conviction in the GCC’s fundamentals and its future is unchanged”.

The security measures follow a warning issued on Wednesday by a spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military command headquarters. “The enemy left our hands open to targeting economic centres and banks belonging to the United States and the Zionist regime in the region,” the spokesperson said.

Reuters reported that the warning came after an administrative building linked to Bank Sepah, one of Iran’s largest state-owned lenders with historical ties to the military, was struck overnight in Tehran. The semi-official Mehr news agency reported the incident.

International financial firms have built a large presence in Dubai over the past two decades, particularly within the Dubai International Financial Centre, which was created in 2004 to attract global banks and asset managers. By the end of 2025 the district hosted more than 290 banks, 102 hedge funds, 500 wealth management firms and 1,289 family-related entities.

The regional escalation has prompted many multinational companies to shift staff to remote working as missile exchanges and military strikes spread across parts of the Middle East. At Goldman Sachs, employees across the region are working from home and following official guidance, according to a person with knowledge of the arrangements who spoke to Reuters.

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