eFinancialCareers

In the past, the Middle East has struggled to attract top bankers, but now international investment banks are moving them there in numbers.

Citigroup
The struggling US bank announced the appointment of Alberto Verme to head up its investment banking division in Dubai.

Verme is one of Citigroup’s most senior bankers, currently global co-head of investment banking, and the move is part of a wider effort to bolster the bank’s presence in the region and develop relationships with new clients.

Credit Suisse
Switzerland’s second largest bank is rumoured to be on the verge of poaching Jeffrey Culpepper, Merrill Lynch’s most senior investment banker in the Middle East, says the Wall Street Journal; it's also in talks with several other Middle Eastern bankers.

Credit Suisse established its private banking business in Dubai in 2004, and since then has been busy diversifying in the region.

Deutsche Bank
The German behemoth has just posted $4bn in sub-prime losses for the first quarter of this year and is going all out to up its Middle Eastern presence. Can you see a pattern developing here?

Hot on the heels of the appointment of a nine-man steering committee to focus on sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), Deutsche unveiled plans to take on 185 people across sales, investment banking and trading within a year, according to Bloomberg.

Goldman Sachs
One of the few investment banks to come out of the credit crunch unscathed so far, Goldman hasn’t been involved in the scrabble for talent in the Middle East investment banking space.

However, it has focused on winning new business from wealthy clients, and earlier this year promoted private banking heavyweight Fadi Abuali as co-head of Middle East private client business.

Lehman Brothers
SWFs seem to be the new darlings of the banking world, and Lehman Brothers appointed private equity veteran Makran Azar to the newly created role of global head of sovereign wealth funds in late April.

Morgan Stanley
As we reported in April, Morgan Stanley has shifted three senior bankers, Dennis Cornell, Hugo Parson and Hani Ramadan, across to Dubai to focus solely on SWFs; they were previously working on financial sponsors groups in London.

More to come?
In 2003, the Middle East accounted for just 9.2% of the $928m investment banking fees in central Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to data from Dealogic. Last year, it contributed 21% of the $6bn total.

Clearly, the region’s importance is growing, and so is the hunger for hiring, says Barbara van Meir, director of headhunters WoodHamill Ingram in Dubai: “Our client base is generally keen to attract individuals who have a genuine interest in this region and can commit medium to long term to the Middle East. For roles with an emphasis on technical skills, like corporate or structured finance or investment banking, prior Middle East experience isn’t important.”