eFinancialCareers

With increasingly grim tidings for multinational banks in November, the Gulf region has not been immune to headcount trimming. However, it continues to attract new players and others are expanding. Here’s our monthly round-up of people moves in the GCC. Alpari, a forex specialist, has launched a regional office in Dubai. It intends to offer individual traders, fund managers and institutional customers its trading technology. BNP Paribas, which currently has... Read more

Credit Suisse has further extended its footprint in the Middle East with the majority ownership of a local player in Saudi. But does this mean it’s actually hiring in the kingdom? It’s been an active year in the GCC for Credit Suisse, which has so far bolstered its equities team in Dubai and gained a licence to operate in Bahrain. After setting up shop in Saudi in May, it has... Read more

Sovereign wealth funds' investments in international markets have so far yielded some big losses, but this hasn’t dented their appetite for overseas investments or, it seems, for recruiting international expertise. Dubai International Capital recently made two senior hires (after sacking seven of its investment staff), and Abu-Dhabi Investment Company (ADIC) also took on two senior staff, including former Fidelity chief financial officer, Chris Coombes. ADIC tells us it’s in expansion... Read more

International financial services firms are flocking to the Gulf like bees to honey, so in the first of our monthly round-ups of significant moves and new offices in the region, we give you a bite-sized review of what’s been going on throughout this month. Russian banks have been busy, with the country’s second largest bank, VTB, announcing plans to open a Dubai office. Its larger rival, Renaissance Capital, was said... Read more

Asset management firms are vying for business from the cash-rich sovereign wealth funds, which are struggling to manage their rapidly increasing cash piles. However, this doesn’t mean SWFs are any less keen to recruit staff in-house. “Sovereign wealth funds have got too much money too quickly and are struggling to manage it,” said John Nugée, head of State Street’s official institutions group and a managing director of State Street Global... Read more

Expansion is the name of the game for regional banks in the GCC. They are increasing headcount and salaries so rapidly it’s even affecting their bottom line. The latest round of quarterly reporting makes for interesting reading, and not just because of the often double-digit increases in profits. In most cases, they are spending around twice as much on staff as they were this time last year. Shuaa Capital’s Q2... Read more

US staff fearing the chop are increasingly scoping out opportunities in the Middle East. Over the last year more than 20,000 US financial professionals have been axed, according to US payroll company ADP. And things only look to get worse, with Bloomberg unleashing the pessimistic prediction that 175,000 finance jobs will go over the coming year. US bankers are understandably looking for alternatives and it seems Dubai is one of... Read more

With the likes of UBS, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse all heavily increasing their presence in the GCC recently, it’s easy to miss the raft of job opportunities at a number of Europe’s smaller financial institutions. This week Intesa SanPaolo, Italy’s second largest bank behind UniCredit, opened in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) to focus on corporate and trade finance, structured finance, project finance, investment banking, treasury services and... Read more

Armed with a Masters in Finance degree and industry experience, Western graduates from the class of 2008 are looking to the Middle East as an increasingly attractive option. Should you be worried? The cost of a Masters in Finance (MiF) at London Business School comes in at a hefty £29.7k ($59.4k). After such an investment, and with a dearth of job opportunities in the West, it’s understandable that graduates should... Read more

Fund managers’ increased demand for knowledge of complex financial products is a bridge too far for the current GCC talent pool, and firms are looking to investment banks to find the requisite experience. Research by KPMG has found that the appetite for complex products, such as derivatives, is on the up – with 57% of traditional asset managers using them in their portfolios. However, 50% of firms surveyed in the... Read more

International asset managers are beginning to set up investment teams on the ground in Dubai and are tapping local talent for them. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that regional experience automatically makes you a potential target. ING Investment Management established itself in the Dubai International Finance Centre this month and hired Farah Fousak as chief investment offer from the National Bank of Dubai along with three colleagues for the investment... Read more

It may still be difficult for women to make it to dizzy heights on the career ladder in financial services in the Middle East, but, as these five prove, it’s not impossible… Maha al-Ghunaim MD and chairperson, Global Investment House (Kuwait) Al-Ghunaim is well known in Western markets and recently gained greater prominence: last week she announced plans to raise $500m from UK investors for a Middle East and North Africa... Read more