Unexpectedly deep redundancies at NBD add to the pool of unwanted staff in Dubai

Emirates NBD is making 750 people, or 15% of its staff redundant. Cuts were anticipated, but this has still come as a shock.

“I was expecting them to rationalize their cost base, although I was expecting a more gradual contraction in cost,” Shabbir Malik, a Dubai-based analyst at EFG-Hermes Holding, told Bloomberg, "...this is going to have a large impact in a very short period of time.”

According to the National, the cuts will affect every department. Officially, the bank is declining to comment.

As has been widely pointed out, the latest cuts will add to the pool of unwanted staff already washing around the Dubai job market. RBS has pulled out of its equity research tie-up with Rasmala Investment Bank - with possible consequences for jobs. Barclays, HSBC, Nomura and Shuaa Capital have also cut staff - although none have cut quite as many as NBD.

NBD's redundancies follow its acquisition of unprofitable Dubai Bank in 2011. Bloomberg,however reports that Dubai Bank staff will be unaffected, as will staff at Islamic Bank - another subsidiary. Instead, it seems the cuts will fall mostly at NBD's core business, formed from the merger of Emirates International Bank and National Bank of Dubai in 2007

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