If you’re a financial analyst in the Middle East, it pays to work in Dubai

It might be clichéd to say so, but Dubai remains the place to be for most financial services workers with aspirations to work in a sophisticated financial services role in the Middle East and – despite increased job opportunities in places like Qatar – it still pays more.

UBS has just released a report into purchasing power around the world. Nestled within the appendices is a nice table outlining exactly what you can expect to earn as a financial analyst around the globe (combined with average working hours).

The three GCC cities on the list are Dubai, Doha and Manama. As you can see, Dubai competes well with most developed nations (and actually pays more than London), but Qatar and Bahrain-based financial analysts are paid comparatively poorly, with average salaries at $23.1k and $27.8k respectively. Even a lack of tax can’t hide the gulf in salaries with more established financial centres.

You may wish to take these figures with a pinch of salt, however. As we point out on our UK website, they don't really tally with salary surveys produced elsewhere on City analyst pay, and it's unlikely that anyone working in an investment bank there would be working just 40 hours a week.