Talent migration to the Middle East: what is the story so far?.

One Ten Associates were recently part of With Intelligence HFM’s first Middle East Summit, which took place in Dubai. The Middle East is an interesting market right now; there is a lot of movement to region, as well as interest from people outside the region looking in. It can be difficult to navigate the waters around these types of trends as trying to find the truth or solutions within the wider conversations can be difficult. 

The overview

It is fair to say that there is a pickup in the fund market within the region. This is supported by the regulators specifically in Dubai and Abu Dhabi who are keen to increase financial business presence in the region. There are tax and lifestyle benefits that will suit some. To bolster the appeal, the popularity of setting up a fund over in the Middle East comes at a time where funds are reporting the difficulties to achieve regulated status within a reasonable timeframe with the FCA and SEC. The perfect storm? Maybe. This isn’t something I can comment on: I am focussed on the talent the funds are looking for.

I think it’s important to understand the dynamics of every financial region. There is a lot of interest globally in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi regulated markets. Do I think that means that fund managers in London and New York are going to up sticks and head over? Possibly? It is obvious that there will be an influx of talent, but it does seem that there is strong pull to the region from areas such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and India. While we are currently seeing a lot of in-house movement, I also imagine that it is going to take some time for the region to require external talent to complement these internal moves.  

Key discussion points

There are two key areas we should consider when discussing talent migration to different jurisdictions. Firstly, what talent is actually moving, or keen to move? Front office talent is a different ball game to the non-investment talent. I feel that asset managers are likely to retain their overall operations in the UK or US, and so for One Ten, that is where our focus will remain. I think the Asia talent pool for non-investment roles is still going to be the biggest pond for the Middle East funds fish in. 

The second point is really about the area or areas that will require a migration of talent. In my opinion, Compliance & Legal is perhaps the biggest area that will require talent from the UK market. This is a talent pool that One Ten Associates specialises in, and we are seeing definite signs of movement from the UK to the region for this reason. 

What next? 

We are keen to evolve with the requirements in the operational talent space and are watching the Middle East with renewed interest. As we start to see the direction of early adopters of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi regulatory regimes, I think the direction of travel will become clearer to us all. 

I am always open to new conversations, so please do get in touch if you would like to discuss global opportunities in more detail.