Despite protestations to the contrary, international financial services firms have started shifting their Middle East HQs from Bahrain to Dubai.

First it was asset manager Robeco, which is moving just 12 staff to the DIFC by year-end, and now French bank Crédit Agricole is relocating its 60 or so employees from Bahrain to Dubai.

This is undoubtedly a blow to Bahrain (and another coup for Dubai), but it’s unlikely to have many in the kingdom panicking just yet.

A bigger concern is whether BNP Paribas decides to relocate its 383-strong team to Dubai. There are already reports that some back office staff will be moved, but it’s unlikely to abandon Bahrain as its regional hub entirely.

There was the suggestion in March that expat financial services professionals were clamouring to leave Bahrain. It’s nearly six months since the troubles began, so any financial services professionals looking to move out should have weighed up their options by now.

Many expats looking to leave Bahrain, but stay in the region, will have had their ambitions hampered by a lack of new employment opportunities in the UAE. Perhaps moving with your current employer is the only option for many people.

One financial services recruiter with offices in Bahrain and Dubai told us that after the initial flurry of expats suddenly seeking work in the UAE, many have taken stock of the situation and decided to stay on.

“There’s the odd one or two looking to switch, but nothing like the first quarter,” he says.

Talk of an exodus of expat talent has been over-baked, though, suggest financial services professionals in Bahrain we spoke to. Expat staff were moved out temporarily to the UAE at the height of the troubles, while Bahraini employees remained, but the vast majority have now returned.

“During the unrest a number of financial professionals’ families flew home, or took an emergency holiday, but the majority of employees stayed put,” says one senior British banker in Bahrain. “Once the situation calmed down people returned as expected. The mood in Bahrain among Westerners is not negative – I don’t think that many people feel threatened, or compelled to move.”

The British banker says that there are still signs of the unrest – notably checkpoints for cars, but these have become more relaxed recently – but that there’s not enough for people to even miss a day of work let alone leave the country.

“The unrest itself was a bit like trouble in any major world city – go looking for trouble and you’ll find it and pay for the consequences. To the majority in the banking sector, we barely noticed any change.”