Q&A: Dan Azzi, regional head of global markets and co-head of wholesale banking, MENAP, Standard Chartered Bank

To look at Dan Azzi's CV you'd assume he's an all-American guy. He has an MBA from Columbia University and served as a major in the US Marine Corps before entering the financial sector. Prior to joining Standard Chartered Bank, he worked at Bear Stearns, which is eponymous with Wall Street, and also spent seven years in New York and Hong Kong at Deutsche Bank.

The reality is, however, that taking a job in Dubai is something of a home-coming for the Lebanese banker. He talks about the reasons behind his move to the Middle East and why it's an exciting time to work here.

Having worked in Western and Asian markets earlier in your career, why did you decide to move to the Middle East?

A couple of reasons really. On the personal side, I wanted to be closer to home. And frankly, in the past − say 10-15 years ago − this region did not have the same opportunities in banking. But due to the investment of the leadership in the UAE, it now rivals any financial centre in the world. You can have as fulfilling and exciting a career as being in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, or Tokyo.

Were there any adjustments you had to make, in terms of working culture and ways of doing business?

I probably had to forget more than learn; being from the region, I'm actually quite comfortable culturally, but having lived for a long time in the US, Europe, and Asia, it was more of a matter of forgetting some of the rules of operating there and re-learning my own culture. For example, I think the personal touch is far important here. In the West, the pitch and the price may be primary drivers, but here perhaps "peering into the soul" of your counterpart is more important than dollars and cents. People feeling that they're able to trust you is integral when doing business in the Middle East.

What are the benefits (and downsides) of working in the region?

I think the main benefits of working in the region are that you are riding a major wave of development, which supported by huge infrastructure spending, a favourable demographic trend, and large amounts of capital that are being deployed productively. There's also a huge hunger for talent and brain power that will give young people, as well as more experienced folks, the opportunity to fast track their careers.

On the down-side, I think the region has yet to establish precedents in the rule of (banking) law and conflict resolution, to establish its credibility in attracting foreign capital and resources. Once that happens, the growth can become astronomical. Of course, the geopolitical developments are also an overhang on the region in the near future.

What advice would you offer to internationally mobile financial services professionals considering a move to the GCC?

I think they would need to understand their unique selling point. What do they bring to the table? What are their competitive advantages? Is it language skills? Perhaps a highly-coveted technical skill? They need to identify this and market it to prospective employers.

Recruitment is generally slow at the moment, but are there any sectors or job roles where there is a skills shortage in the in the region?

I have a bit of a different take on this issue. I think the right person can always construct a convincing argument for people to hire them. If you know what differentiates you from the competition, and can present a compelling case to a prospective employer, more often than not, they'll find a way to hire you, maybe not at the price or conditions you want, but at least you get a foot in the door.

Also, many employers, and I'd include ourselves here, believe that if you were successful at building businesses in one area, and have demonstrated outstanding leadership, they don't mind taking a chance on you in another area, even if the link is not obvious. We generally look for leaders (or potential leaders), rather than strictly people with specialised skills.

Imagine I want to work for you, what three qualities could I exhibit that would make you hire me?

I generally like people who are not afraid to make a decision; people who are not afraid to take a chance on being wrong. In our line of work, where the competition is moving swiftly, time is of the essence. You'd be surprised how many people don't realise that procrastinating or not making a decision is itself a decision.

Secondly, also like leaders who are willing to invest in their people. I generally operate under the premise that 90% of the time it's not bad employee, it's bad management. If an employee is not performing, are you as a manager supervising him properly? Is he in the right job? Basically, I love turnaround stories, and it's what gets me out of bed every day.

Finally, I think people need to be pro-active and come up with new solutions or lines of business, without you telling them what to do. People that periodically redefine themselves and their businesses. And those with an entrepreneurial streak.

Trading volumes on regional bourses have been down for some time now, are you more optimistic about 2012?

I think that's partially due to the excesses of the recent past. People got carried away when the equity markets in the region started to take off and this is simply bringing it back to sustainable levels. Also, the so-called Arab Spring and other geopolitical developments need to be resolved before confidence is restored. But in my opinion, the developments in the region, including huge investments by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar all bode extremely well for the region, and I am very optimistic in the medium to long term, not withstanding hiccups along the way.

Do you believe that the liberalization of Saudi's capital markets could benefit international banks and prompt some to expand?

Absolutely. I am a big buyer of the positive changes being implemented by the leadership in the Kingdom. The Kingdom constitutes more than half of the Gulf's GDP and holds one of the largest foreign reserves in the world. It is indisputable that the recent changes will take Saudi to a different level on the world economic scale.

Are you optimistic about any other sectors in the Middle East financial sector?

I think many Gulf states are trying to develop a yield curve, so despite them not needing financing in a traditional sense, recent issuance has been on the rise in order to develop this, so that's an area to watch. There is also a huge potential for institutional asset management, with portfolio managers based out of the region, for underlying assets traded in the region (or elsewhere). The current and future strengthening of the regulatory environment should accompany such a move, and a wider opening of the Saudi capital market would constitute a huge move.