eFinancialCareers

Some high profile figures in the Middle East financial sector made the move to rivals in June, but it was the wealth management sector which was the most active.Bank Sarasin-Alpen, the private bank, has made a series of new appointments for its Qatar office. Sulaiman Yousif Salhi will lead the team, while Meenal Mahajan and Rasha Badawi join as client relationship managers.Banque Saudi Fransi, Caylon's Saudi-based affiliate, has hired John... Read more

By its own admission, the Middle East risk management survey by recruiters GRS is meant as a rough guide rather than an absolute authority, but it seems there are massive discrepancies between the levels of pay you can bring in at different organisations. As the table below shows, the minimum salary for a head of risk in the Middle East is $80k, whereas it's $365k at the top end. GRS says... Read more

In the interest of balance, considering all the recent talk of a Middle East expat exodus, it's worth pointing to a new report which suggests they are still able to live the high life in the region and have no desire to leave. Four GCC states were in the top ten of the latest HSBC Expat Explorer, with Qatar the highest ranked at number two. The survey is, however, based... Read more

There are tentative signs that the electronic trading revolution is making its way to the Middle East, with both banks and technology vendors beginning to target the region. But, although it threatens to take off in the future, hiring is so far very limited. Richard Bentley, vice president, field technical services at Progress Software – which has just entered the region – says that financial services firms in the GCC... Read more

Some rather scary figures suggest that the Dubai dream could be well and truly over for up to a third of expatriate workers who are simply waiting for the school year to end before packing up and going home. But is it really as bad as all that for the financial sector? UBS is suggesting that a brain drain is on the cards. With the expat community already shrinking, it... Read more

What's going on at the top at Bahraini private equity and alternative investment firm Investcorp? Just days after scrapping its chief operating officer role in order to "streamline its management" it's tapped Citigroup's Middle East MD for a new senior role. Clearly, a change of strategy is afoot. The firm posted a first ever loss of $511m for the six months ending 31 December 2008, and was forced to make... Read more

Qatar's banking sector has been branded among the most stable in the GCC and its financial centre has been busily handing out new licences since the beginning of this year, including some large international players who have been waxing lyrical about its growth potential. So, is it the place to be in 2009? The most recent investment bank to open an office in Doha is Nomura, following hot on the heels... Read more

Relatively speaking, the debt capital markets in the Middle East are thriving and providing the majority of revenues for investment banks in the region. So, why is there no hiring going on in this sector? Figures from Dealogic reproduced in Financial News show that there have been five deals worth a combined $10.4bn in the second quarter of this year, which is the highest volume of activity since the third quarter... Read more

The Abu Dhabi Investment Company, which has been on something of a hiring spree this year, has rolled out four new equities funds in a bid to attract international investors and reinvented itself as Invest AD. It also looks set to continue recruiting. The new funds are an attempt to lure institutional investors to the MENA region, which Invest AD chairman, Khalifa Al Kindi describes as a "phenomenal investment opportunity". So far... Read more

A banking job in Dubai, it seems, is no longer as secure as it once was, and with more redundancies predicted in the coming year, expat workers are looking to Abu-Dhabi for new opportunities. The Dubai financial sector can no longer be viewed as a sanctuary for Western bankers. The likes of Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are already trimming their Dubai teams, and mid-market investment bank Jefferies... 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

Financial techie types can cash in on Middle Eastern banks’ focus on security. Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force predicts banks and financial institutions in the region are set to spend $2bn on IT this year and next – mainly centred on risk management to guard against fraud and money laundering. Henry Pretorius, head of risk practice at IT vendor SAS, says: “Amidst the region's booming economy and... Read more

Following a similar feature on our UK site, we're asking readers of eFinancialCareers Gulf to give some constructive criticism of this job-hunter's CV. Below is their profile (with all personal details removed) and little about their search for new employment so far. Can you offer some tips about where they may have been going wrong and what, exactly, can be improved about their CV? "I've been looking for a new job... Read more

Chances are, if you're a young banker lured to Dubai a couple of years ago by the promise of big bonuses and a tax free salary, you wouldn't have been too prudent with your finances. However, now that the employment market is a little more shaky, it's worth bearing in mind the emirate's strict policy over debt repayment before splashing out on that new Hummer. Dubai's banks were previously fairly... Read more

With the carnage at investment banks in the West, and the positive PR machine in the GCC painting a picture of a hiring oasis in the region, international applicants for M&A and private equity roles have soared. There’s just one problem – hiring is slowing down in the Gulf. “The number of applications we're receiving now is phenomenal,” says Nicola Beer, senior consultant for financial services at Hays in Dubai.... Read more

The Abu Dhabi Investment Company, which has been on something of a hiring spree this year, has rolled out four new equities funds in a bid to attract international investors and reinvented itself as Invest AD. It also looks set to continue recruiting. The new funds are an attempt to lure institutional investors to the MENA region, which Invest AD chairman, Khalifa Al Kindi describes as a "phenomenal investment opportunity". So far... Read more

Following on from last month's CV review, another brave candidate has submitted their CV for you to offer constructive criticism. Below is their profile (with all personal details removed) and little about their search for new employment so far. Can you offer some tips about where they may have been going wrong and what, exactly, can be improved about their CV? "My preference is to work in the investment banking sector,... Read more

Western schools are increasingly offering MBAs in finance within the Gulf in an attempt to bolster indigenous talent. Is this your golden ticket to a top job? The MBA has long been the favoured qualification in the Gulf states and Western schools have been setting up on the ground in response to this demand. The likes of INSEAD, London Business School, Cass University and Manchester Business School have rolled out... Read more