Renewed concern about the global economy – coupled with the Arab Spring – means global banks are again slowing recruitment or reducing headcount in the Middle East. Thanks to growing business in Africa, banks are also building bigger teams in Johannesburg, at the expense of Gulf financial centres, above all Dubai.
In the past three months at least three senior investment bankers have departed from Credit Suisse’s Dubai operation. These include Jeffrey Culpepper, the Swiss bank’s head of investment banking in the region, and one of the best-known figures in the Middle East’s banking community. Culpepper now acts as an adviser to Credit Suisse.
Goodbye Dubai
The other two are Erwin Van Der Voort, formerly head of Middle East M&A, and George Pavey, formerly head of equity capital markets for emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa. Van Der Voort is moving to New York to focus on advising hedge funds for Credit Suisse.
Like other senior bankers, Pavey moved to Dubai three years ago, when banks expected relatively resilient growth in earnings from the Gulf. Although Pavey previously maintained a base in London too, he has now relocated to Hong Kong to co-head global markets solutions in Credit Suisse’s Asia-Pacific business.
