UBS has just released its Q2 results and they’re not good; net profit has fallen by nearly 50%. Cost cutting is coming (by up to $2.5bn over the next two to three years) and inevitably this means big redundancies.

Within its relatively diminutive MENA team, however, there are reasons to believe that overall headcount will remain relatively stable and job opportunities could continue to present themselves.

UBS now employs 154 people in the MENA region. While is a small headcount compared to other parts of the world, this figure represents a 21% uplift on the 127 people employed at this point last year and a 6% increase since Q1 2011.

Globally, talk has already turned to relatively deep cuts at UBS. Although the bank refused to come up with a number during its Q2 conference call, reports suggest that cost-saving initiatives could eventually eliminate 5,000 jobs. Client advisers in wealth management will be spared any redundancies, however.

Within the Middle East, however, headhunters we spoke to remain convinced that UBS is still in the market for recruiting investment bankers and that redundancy rumours are not yet circling the Swiss bank.

Last year was a decent one for UBS’s Middle East investment bank – it came second in the M&A revenue rankings (behind Goldman Sachs), accounting for an 11.1% market share, according to Dealogic figures. It has, however, dropped down the rankings so far in 2011, according to Thomson Reuters figures.

It stands to reason, therefore, that the majority of recruitment within UBS’s MENA operation will be within wealth management. Former Credit Agricole investment banker, Albert Momdjian, is joining UBS in August to lead its Middle East wealth management operation and, according to reports, has already been mandated to expand it.