Spectacular fall from grace for Global

The financial crisis has been a great leveller of reputations. But few have fallen as far and as fast as Maha Al-Ghunaim and Global Investment House, the Kuwaiti investment bank she helped found in 1998.

Until recently, Global was one of the largest investment banks in the oil-rich Middle East, with $10bn of assets under management and investments in countries from Morocco to Malaysia.

Last summer it raised nearly $1.7bn by selling global depository receipts and listing an investment company subsidiary, Global MENA Financial Assets, on the London Stock Exchange.