eFinancialCareers

Abu Dhabi is fast-emerging as the place to be for private bankers in the Gulf. The problem is though, experienced professionals with extensive client networks are not in plentiful supply – and firms are willing to pay for key talent. Citi Private Bank recently hired Abu Dhabi wealth management veteran Daniel Gay to focus on high-net-worth clients in the emirate. As Gay previously held a senior position at UBS in Abu... Read more

The gleaming tower of the Qatar Financial Centre never quite rivalled the DIFC as a bustling metropolis for investment bankers and now it's given up the ghost to try and carve a niche for itself within asset management, captive insurance and reinsurance. The move, announced yesterday, is a "new strategic phase" and by focusing on these sectors rather than banking, the QFC is aiming to challenge other regional financial centres.... Read more

Business plans for 2010 are in place, and sentiment around the Middle Eastern financial sector has taken a more positive slant. However, recruitment in the first month of this year remained relatively muted. Arab Banking Corporation has unveiled Dr Khaled Kawan as its new deputy chief executive. He will have responsibility for the group's wholesale banking, universal banking and group operations. The Bahrain Financial Exchange has named Salah Al Abdulla as... Read more

More Gulf-based banks are using executive MBAs as a retention tool for their senior staff, and an increasing number of students from outside the Middle East suggests the region is still attractive to financial services professionals. London Business School (LBS) is one of a growing number of universities offering executive MBAs in the Gulf – including Cass Business School, Insead and Hult International Business School – and it says more... Read more

Pity the much-maligned Middle East recruiter. Three years ago the challenge was attracting sufficient talent to the burgeoning number of jobs on offer in the region, now they're faced with increasingly desperate candidates chasing fewer opportunities. Comments from candidates on eFinancialCareers suggest you're not exactly enamoured with the service you've received from recruiters. In an attempt to redress the balance, we've compiled a list of the issues facing recruiters in the... Read more

As the world digests Obama's Glass-Steagall for the 21st Century, are there any possible implications for financial services employment in the Middle East? Obama sent shockwaves through Wall Street yesterday after revealing his intentions to…"work with Congress to ensure that no bank or financial institution that contains a bank will own, invest in or sponsor a hedge fund or a private equity fund, or proprietary trading operations unrelated to serving customers... Read more

As the dust settles on the vague outlines of the Volcker Rule, we know you will all be very eagerly evaluating its impact on jobs. Here, following our own perusal of analyst notes and the excellent summaries (and here) provided by Alphaville, is a short analysis of the types of jobs that could be coshed by Volcker, plus those that may actually benefit. We’ll follow this up later with a look... Read more

This short video originated with our colleagues in the US. Featuring Cat Miller, eFinancialCareers' response to Maria Bartiromo, it's intended to help you suppress the instinct to be horrible about former/future colleagues in interviews. Watch carefully.

Don't go there.Watch the video.

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

Failed in Dubai, try London? Unfortunately not. Recruiters say that any Dubai financiers who want to relocate in the wake of the emirate’s woes will have trouble doing so. “We’ve already had a few CVs from both Dubai and Dubai sovereign wealth funds in London,” says a director at one London recruitment firm, “but we really can’t do anything with them. It’s not particular to Dubai, it’s just that the UK... 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

Dubai's reliance on expat financial services talent is no secret, nor is the fact that increasing numbers are hopping on planes home as redundancies rise and job opportunities dry up. However, while the majority still remain, they could simply be waiting for the right opportunity to leave. New research by consultants at Oxford Analytica, called (rather ominously) 'Dubai expatriate allure fading', suggests the emirate is no longer a very... Read more

With jobs thin on the ground, it's common to seek the security of a professional qualification. In the Gulf, however, this trend seems particularly prevalent, with the number of people signing up to become chartered accountants increasing dramatically. While the numbers are still relatively small, members of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) increased by 26.5% in 2008 in the Middle East, Central and East Asia (as the table... Read more