Citigroup is hiring across Gulf, awaits another record IPO year

A view of a branch of Citibank along Khalid Bin Al-Waleed Road in Dubai (file). Lured by the region’s deep pools of capital, Wall Street banks from Citigroup to JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc are seizing on the opportunity to capture market share, expanding teams on the ground in the hope of winning advisory roles.

Citigroup Inc is boosting its presence in the Gulf region as it expects activity including initial public offerings to reach a new historic high. “2021 was a record year, but I actually believe 2022 will be even better,” Miguel Azevedo, Citi’s head of investment banking for the Middle East and North Africa, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Monday. “We are adding resources all across the region. We are basically in Saudi Arabia and in Dubai and we are adding on both of those.” The Middle East saw a boom in IPOs last year, with Abu Dhabi joining the rush as governments in the region seek to diversify their economies away from oil and reinvigorate their capital markets. Dubai is seeking to close the gap with Abu Dhabi and Riyadh this year with a clutch of planned privatisations, starting with its main utility. Lured by the region’s deep pools of capital, Wall Street banks from Citigroup to JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc are seizing on the opportunity to capture market share, expanding teams on the ground in the hope of winning advisory roles. Citigroup, which had been present in Saudi Arabia since 1955, exited in 2004, and obtained an investment-banking license 13 years later as the country opened up. Azevedo said the war for talent in the banking industry – which has seen compensation swell across firms – has become an issue in the Middle East too, but competition isn’t as bad as before. Citigroup has been able to attract resources in the last few years, he said. “If you have a strong institution with strong values, with the right management, talent will still come to this industry,” Azevedo said. “I believe it’s still a very attractive industry to young talent and we are positive on that.” Across Wall Street, banks have been contending with the need to attract and retain talent as dealmaking booms. Bonus packages at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have jumped by as much as 40% to 50%, causing expenses to balloon.