eFinancialCareers

HSBC has announced 1,100 job cuts in its global banking and markets division, which incorporates investment banking, but it’s not yet clear whether any of these redundancies will affect the Middle East. London appears to be hardest hit, with 500 investment banking jobs set to be axed, and spokesman Gareth Hewett confirmed that a further 100 would be slashed from its Asian operations. The investment banking division in the Middle... Read more

Gulf states’ attempts to become the location of choice for bankers wanting to escape the carnage in Western markets appears to be working. The latest rankings of global financial centres has put them in a strong position and they’re tipped to surge over the next five years. The Global Financial Centres Index is a twice-yearly rating commissioned by the City of London and undertaken by research company Z/Yen. It’s based... Read more

As the world has turned its attention to Lehman’s army of bankers in the US and Europe, the fate of the bank’s mere 40 employees in the Middle East has largely been ignored. Except, it seems, by headhunters. With Nomura confirming the takeover of Lehman’s European and Middle East equities and investment banking business, investment bankers are suddenly on firmer ground. The Japanese bank said it would keep a ‘significant... Read more

If you’re an Islamic finance professional based in the Middle East and are hoping to penetrate the UK market, the message is clear - don’t bother. The Middle East might be a more mature market in this space currently, but London is intent on developing its own talent. Gatehouse Bank, a recently-established UK-based Islamic finance house, predicts that the number of players in the London market will double over the... Read more

On the face of it, international investment banks are ramping up their teams in the Middle East. However, it could be that many are only transferring existing staff across to the region and opportunities for external hires are actually few and far between. The Financial Times reports that investment bankers in the likes of Citi, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, and Lehman Brothers are “queuing up” to move to the GCC. They... Read more

UBS is planning to expand its Islamic finance capabilities as part of its push into the Middle East, but there are signs that the sector is losing its shine in the region. The Swiss bank already has big plans. Last month it announced that it was set to double headcount in equity research and investment banking. Now, a spokesperson says it also plans to increase activity and headcount in Islamic... Read more

The Big Four accountancy firms are looking to bolster their corporate finance teams in the GCC in anticipation of a raft of M&A business in the region. Deloitte this week announced that it would be moving six partners from the UK to the Middle East with an eye to expanding the team. It will be offering M&A advisory and support services, IPO advisory, and Islamic finance advice, among other things. Chris... Read more

Bankers lured to the Middle East under the promise of bumper bonuses may be disappointed – this year’s payouts look set to fall. Last week, Bloomberg touted the GCC as an M&A oasis for investment bankers who want to reel in the kind of bonuses they’ve enjoyed in Western markets for the past few years. However, figures from data provider Dealogic suggest this theory is more hearsay than fact. Revenues generated by... Read more

The world’s biggest global custodians are hot on the heels of fund managers flocking to the GCC and are set to build their teams up over the coming months. Standard Chartered has just announced plans to expand its securities services business in the Middle East with the opening of an operation at the Dubai Financial Market. But it faces some stiff competition from the world’s largest custodians. Bank of New... Read more

The GCC might be seeing a raft of applications and relocations of Western expat bankers, but many who make the move are realising that the region doesn’t quite live up to the level of pay, benefits and career progression they enjoyed back home. This means firms are struggling to hold on to the best talent. “There are a lot of people reaching out from around the world,” says Varina Nissen,... 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

Investment banking and capital markets revenues in the Gulf are tipped to swell by up to 25% a year. And as more bankers flock to the region in search of new job opportunities, financial firms are becoming increasingly choosy about who they take on. Richard Lett, head of banking at recruiters RP International, tells us banks in the Middle East are able to be a lot more selective: “The talent... 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

Equity capital markets (ECM) has been teetering on the edge of exploding into action in the Middle East, but now it’s in full flow. ECM professionals are, therefore, increasingly becoming hot property. At least 120 initial public offerings (IPOs) are planned in the GCC through to 2010 as more and more firms turn to equity markets to raise funds for expansion, according to investment bank Gulf Capital. IPO volumes in... Read more

Escalating property prices and double digit inflation might be touted as reasons for failing to attract expat talent to Dubai, but the Emirate has actually tumbled down the world’s most expensive cities rankings. Dubai comes in as the 52nd most expensive city in the world, down from 32nd last year, while Abu-Dhabi is number 62, falling from 45th in 2007, according to a survey by Mercer. The good news for bankers and... Read more

Lloyd’s TSB, the UK bank, is planning to open a full-scale branch network in the GCC, in a sign that more international banks are going to make efforts to break the branch restrictions currently placed on them by regulatory authorities. Local banks in the GCC offer far more job opportunities at the moment. They currently account for 77.4% of total assets in the region because they have access to government... Read more

UAE firms are taking pre-emptive measures to ensure that the carnage in the Western banking world doesn’t happen here: they're bolstering their risk management teams. Local banks are battling with the twin forces of regulatory reporting requirements – such as Basel II – and the need to set up controls against banking crises and rogue traders. Jamal Saleh, head of risk management at the Commercial Bank of Dubai, says:... Read more