Page 244 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

226 Dubai & Co.

This approach is driven in part by the increased sophistication of
the leadership and managers in these institutions—leadership and
managers, who generally tend to have world-class talents, have
excellent educations in international business, and have work expe-
rience at global firms. A significant number of GCC nationals who
have trained abroad and worked in top foreign firms are now
bringing their experience to local institutions. In addition, GCC
institutions are exploring other ways to develop local expertise: one
major institution, for example, has been sending young talent out to
work as interns at global banks where it keeps large accounts. The
interns gain exposure to the workings of the banks and bring their
insights about this home with them.
Another advantage of the strategy of bringing talent in-house
is that it has attracted expatriate talent to work directly for the insti-
tution, on the ground in the Gulf. Investment managers from
around the world, and especially from the UK and Commonwealth
countries, can be found in increasing numbers around the region,
generally employed by large institutional investors. Whereas Gulf
postings were once seen as hardship assignments at unsophisti-
cated institutions, today’s expatriates enjoy both a very high stan-
dard of living and a rigorously challenging work environment. An
investment manager with ADIA or the Kuwait Investment
Authority on his or her CV, for example, is now viewed as someone
with experience at one of the world’s most important institutional
investment firms. In fact, ADIA’s current head of investment strat-
egy is a Frenchman.
The world’s leading investment banks have recognized the
potential of the GCC, as well as the value of having a local presence.
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), opened in 2005
and regulated independently through the Dubai Financial Services
Authority, had by 2007 attracted well over 300 global firms. Among
these are marquee firms such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch,
Deutsche Bank, Barclays Capital, and Credit Suisse. The Qatar
Financial Centre (QFC) has also attracted an impressive list of
global firms, including Citibank, Standard Chartered, and the
Royal Bank of Scotland. Many firms, like Credit Suisse, have a pres-
ence in both centers. In an interesting development, DIFC
Investments—the proprietary investment arm of Dubai’s finance
center—became one of the largest shareholders in Deutsche Bank in