Can you still bank on Bahrain?

The number of people working in Bahrain's financial services sector increased by nearly 15% in 2008, suggesting it's still a good career bet. However, with increased consolidation predicted and recent redundancies, it's doubtful whether 2009 will be as buoyant.

The Central Bank of Bahrain's Directorate of Financial Stability has revealed that 1,735 jobs were added to the financial sector in 2008, taking the total numbers employed to 13,922.

This is 14.2% up on last year, and 68.5% greater than the same figure three years ago.

However, these statistics could be painting a misleadingly optimistic picture.

Peter Jones, director of Middle Eastern headhunters MRK Consulting says: "I suspect most of these roles were added in the first six months of the year. It slowed down markedly towards the end of 2008, and while there are still opportunities out there now, it's the smaller Islamic investment banks that are looking to take people on."

Part of the reason for the pessimism is that the financial sector is likely to see increased levels of mergers and acquisitions this year, which would inevitably lead to some redundancies.

For example, Al-Salam Bank Bahrain (ASBB) and Bahrain Saudi Bank (BSB) have announced that they are considering a merger to consolidate their operations. Yousif A. Taqi, director and CEO of ASBB, and Khalid Shaheen, CEO of BSB said that further consolidation in the Bahraini banking sector was inevitable this year.

There are currently 415 firms licensed by the CBB, which includes 88 conventional banks, 26 Islamic banks, 48 investment firms and 92 'specialised licensees' which encompasses things like hedge funds.

Rory Adamson, director of Bahrain-based executive search firm Azrek, confirms that hiring has slowed a lot this year, and that banks are "focusing on their strengths" when it comes to recruitment.

"The whole hiring process is now a lot slower," he says. "A lot of good people are on the market as a result of recent redundancies and the organisations that are recruiting have the luxury of being able to choose very carefully before taking people on, knowing that they are unlikely to have been hired in the meantime."