Now's a good time for Barclays Wealth to pick up Saudi private banking talent

15 September 2009

2 minute read

Now's a good time for Barclays Wealth to pick up Saudi private banking talent

Barclays Wealth has been on something of a hiring spree in the Middle East this year, and its decision to set up operations in Saudi in spite of the downturn means it can recruit private banking talent that may have otherwise been unavailable.

The private bank has unveiled plans to kick-start a Saudi Arabia operation in a bid to tap wealth in the region at a time of uncertainty surrounding family offices in the kingdom.

Soha Nashaat, chief executive of Barclays private banking arm in the Middle East said Saudi is "massive in terms of percentage GDP of the Middle East, you absolutely have to be a player there if your aspirations are to be top of the league."

This month, Barclays Wealth recruited Sahba Hadipour as director to its private banking team in the Middle East, following on from the hire of Fawaz R. Baba, as general manager for its Middle East operations in August.

Other hires in 2009 include Harry Martin as director for international private banking in Dubai, and Sharad Nair, who also took a director role in the emirate.

Saudi, however, may prove a more difficult nut to crack in terms of finding the right people, suggests Peter Jones, director of Middle East focused headhunters MRK Consulting.

"In Saudi more than anywhere, gaining business in wealth management is about who you know, and most people gain a position through networking" he says. "However, there's been a bit of a shake-out over the last six months so now's a good time to pick up talent."

Nashaat says tentative signs of a market recovery means investors are willing to take risks again: "People are now more concerned on missing out on the market rebound than they are about the downside risk."

AUTHORPaul Clarke

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salehabahusa
7 October 2009
I agree, I am working in banking since 18 years. much people you know much assets you get . it s mostly belong to the relations.but with the new generation that we have now you need to work hard to get the business.
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arvinwalia
4 October 2009
I agree on the last comment made by Peter Jones that Saudi is about who you know, therefore it is vitally important to structure any Investment / Wealth Management unit around those individuals who understand the key fundamental drivers of the economy and have worked at least 5 years in the market. Furthermore another key point to note is that in the Wealth Management cycle, Saudi is a market whereby both institutions and individuals have to regroup and re-generate wealth or sizable disposable incomes before investing. It has always been a market where only capital rich investors have parted with money to diversify their KSA centric portfolios. Times have changed and wealth generation via a Wealth Management unit from a top tier bank is most certainly a good idea at the current global economic juncture.
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