One of the side-effects of the Arab Spring has been a gravitation of financial services professionals towards safe havens in the Gulf; notably, Dubai and Qatar.

However, according to a new survey, Qatar is now the most reputable Gulf financial centre in the eyes of the international community. While banks are talking up expansion in Doha, Dubai continues to slide down the international rankings.

The latest Global Financial Centres Index produced by consultants Z/Yen, places Qatar at 30th, while Dubai has slipped down from 28th to 36th.

This is in part because financial services professionals around the world are now less convinced that Dubai has the potential to become a significant international financial centre, according to the report’s author Mark Yeandle, but also because sentiment around Qatar is on the up.

“A lot of the banks we speak to are upsizing their offices in Qatar, so jobs are being created there,” he says. “This isn’t necessarily to the detriment of Dubai, but more and more financial services professionals view it as an attractive place to be.”

But are there really that many jobs in Qatar? Dubai remains the largest financial centre in terms of employment – over 11,000 people work in the DIFC alone – but while recruitment has stalled in the UAE, Doha continues to offer opportunities.

“Companies in Qatar are building and growing, but the job numbers are still relatively low,” says Peter Greaves, director of financial markets at headhunters McArthur Murray. “More banks are recruiting juniors to support what was previous a small group of senior ranking advisory professionals. However, in terms of traffic, there’s more movement from Saudi to Qatar than people moving from the UAE.”