Wednesday 19 October 2011

Confident Shuaa aims to rejoin banking elite - The National

Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Al Maktoum has been chairman of Shuaa Capital, the region's oldest investment bank, for four months. A couple of weeks ago, he put his stamp on the bank with the appointment of Michael Philipp as chief executive. Mr Philipp is a highly rated banker formerly on the executive board of Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.

Shuaa has had a couple of years of reorganisation and retrenchment. The effects of the global financial crisis hit the bank's core businesses hard, as trading activity and initial public offerings dried up in the region. It had a run-in with the financial regulator, and a messy wrangle with the Government over its equity structure.

Now, the bank's corporate structure has been resolved. It has also taken steps to address a legacy portfolio out of kilter with modern market conditions, reduce its cost base and refocus its business. That task has not been eased by the uncertainties caused by the financial fallout from the Arab Spring.

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