Sector: Investment Banking / M & A

Worrying signs that international investment banks are retreating from the Middle East

Crédit Agricole’s decision to move its MENA M&A team from Dubai to Paris is indicative of an increasing reluctance of international investment banks to maintain a significant presence in the region. Last week, the French bank revealed that it was closing its regional M&A division – a move that would affect five or six people [...]

By Paul Clarke, 5 October 2011 • 1 comment

International banks have started making redundancies in the Gulf: which firms are the safer bets?

Inevitably, it’s started happening; international investment banks that have been making thousands of redundancies globally have started trimming their Middle Eastern teams. Nomura has shut its regional equity research team, while both Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse have laid of senior MENA-focused research analysts, according to Reuters. We also understand that UBS has made three [...]

By Paul Clarke, 21 September 2011 • 0 comments

Five roles still defying the slowdown

It’s Ramadan, it’s summer, and capital markets are tanking across the globe – a toxic combination that means recruitment in the Middle East financial sector has, by and large, ground to a halt. However, amidst the new-found gloom and traditional seasonal lull, there are some roles that financial services firms continue to hire for. Based [...]

By Paul Clarke, 16 August 2011 • 4 comments

Q&A: Citigroup’s Central European Banking head talks about his career and explains why he prefers candidates with a sense of fun

Linos Lekkas, Citigroup’s head of banking for Greece and Cyprus and recently promoted Central Europe banking head, has answered our questions about his career in investment banking and the fact that – ultimately – it is personality that makes a senior banker stand out. This is Linos: This is what he said: 1) How long [...]

By Sarah Butcher, 8 August 2011 • 0 comments

GUEST COMMENT: How I broke into an investment banking role in Dubai

As a graduate based in the UK, breaking into investment banking in the Middle East is no easy task. For a start the number of juniors recruited is relatively small, and if you want to be taken seriously you need to convince firms you’re serious about the move rather than simply another speculator. My (small) [...]

By Mergers & Inquisitions, 3 August 2011 • 1 comment

UBS has INCREASED its headcount in the MENA region by 21%

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 [...]

By Paul Clarke, 26 July 2011 • 0 comments

Arguably the safest banks to work for in the Middle East across M&A, ECM and DCM

Times are tough for investment bankers working in the Middle East. The total fee pot has fallen by nearly 50% on last year, according to new Thomson Reuters figures, and the first half of 2010 was hardly a stellar period. As we’ve mentioned previously, there are already mutterings about redundancies within the relatively small regional [...]

By Paul Clarke, 18 July 2011 • 2 comments

Are cuts coming to Middle Eastern investment banking teams?

It’s inevitable; with investment banks cutting staff in London and New York, and revenues slumping in the Middle East, talk has already turned to when global institutions will start paring back their regional teams. The message seems to be that cuts are coming, but any redundancies within international investment banks’ Middle East teams are likely [...]

By Paul Clarke, 6 July 2011 • 0 comments

Where are all these investment banking jobs in Qatar? (Hint: in the sovereign wealth fund)

With Qatar gearing up to spend billions on the 2022 World Cup, a booming economy and most of the Q1 M&A deals in the Middle East taking place there, Doha is supposed to be the new epicentre for investment bankers. Unfortunately, there’s little sign of this anticipated recruitment taking place this year. Qatar is still [...]

By Paul Clarke, 15 June 2011 • 6 comments

MIDDLE EAST MOLE: After the summer, expect the winter to be frosty

As many in the Middle East will know, we’re about to enter the final month of work this side of summer, before recruitment grinds to a halt and deal activity hibernates until Ramadan comes to an end. We can reflect on an eventful first half – the ‘Arab Spring’ denting any hopes of a deal [...]

By Jamal Bahir, 13 June 2011 • 0 comments