I’ve worked in private banking for over 20 years across many different countries, but despite being based in the UAE for the last eight years, I am constantly astounded by the limited strategy put out by the banks hiring here.

You can be a seasoned banker with an MBA under your belt, but the first thing any hiring manager asks in a job interview is whether you have a client base of at least $50-100m you can move across. Never mind whether you’ve spent time at a top bank, or if you have a list of skills and unique selling points as long as your arm, if you can match the number in assets they’re looking for, you’re 80% of the way to securing a new job.

I can see the logic that employers are subscribing to here; banks want people with clients loyal enough to move with them. But with the asset merry-go-round currently, surely everyone ends up with a net position of zero. Or is it just me that sees a lack of common sense here?

To me, private banking is supposed to be about building long-term relationships in a mutually beneficial agreement between bank, employee and client. In the Middle East, the client is a commodity to be touted at will by the banker in order to attract a new employer. Screw the client, they are my lunch money!

There are always new private banks entering the Middle East awash with money and looking for new clients. Brilliant, a new sucker to tout my client list to – sign on bonus here I come.

A time to change the culture

Who is at fault? I guess we all are. The recruitment companies for not suggesting to the employer a more robust strategy than hiring rainmakers; the banks for not investing more brain power into understanding key skills and the fact everyone seems to have lost sight of that we’re a service industry.

If anything, those working in the industry are relatively blameless. If we don’t provide the numbers the employers want to see, we have no hope of gaining an interview, let alone a job offer. We need to convince an employer to improve their sales strategy.

Whether we like it or not private bankers are salesmen. No matter how you dress it up, or how important you think you are, it’s not your money. You are selling your service and product to a client, in the same way as a used car sales man or the estate agent.

In order to maximise your sales you need a strategy – a combination of what you can offer as an organisation and how an individual can help you achieve it. Focusing just on assets is short-termism in the extreme – yes, the person you’re hiring needs to have contacts, but any new recruit should be a cog in a well-oiled machine, brought in because of a banks’ long-term strategy not just to harvest their clients’ assets.

A hire and fire mentality

Any private banker should be given at least 3-5 years to add value to a new employer, but in the Middle East you’re out within six months if you don’t bring in the business. 12 months is like a 10-year career.

There are a lot of bosses, meanwhile, that are happy to hire and fire relatively aimlessly, ruining the client experience, their brand name and destroying individuals’ careers.

What about the farmers? If you would rather be building a strong relationship with an existing client, Middle East companies have no interest in you – it’s all about new client sales.

There must be so many orphaned clients, but I’ve never heard of a bank that wants experienced bankers to help develop their existing clients. Yet we all constantly pick up clients from other banks who are unhappy with the service they receive. Quite frankly, the whole situation blows my mind.