Deutsche Bank to expand team in Saudi Arabia, UAE

Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank AG plans to strengthen its team in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, given the rise in sovereign bond sales and initial public offerings (IPOs) this year, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

The lender is looking to hire in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to cover sovereigns and large corporates, said Jamal Al Kishi, Deutsche Bank's CEO for the Middle East and Africa.

It has also built its team in Saudi Arabia to about 90 employees, given the possibility of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) likely to be included in the MSCI and FTSE emerging market indexes this year. 

“We are definitely more positive on the outlook for deals this year across sovereign bond sales, equity capital markets and privatizations,” Al Kishi told the news agency.

“We also expect to see a lot of private sector companies tapping markets for both equity and debt.”

Deutsche Bank was the eighth-biggest manager of bond and sukuk deals in the GCC last year, as regional sales rose 18 percent to $85 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

“We expect the 2018 and 2019 deal flow will continue to be driven by sovereign bond sales as the authorities strive to meet their budgetary targets,” Al Kishi said.

“Should markets remain stable, we expect a good increase in deal volume coming to the regional markets this financial year,” he added.