A year ago, Crédit Agricole was deciding to streamline its operations in the Gulf by merging its investment banking division in Dubai and regional banking headquarters in Bahrain, writes Simeon Kerr.
The debate within the French bank turned on whether Dubai’s more global environment trumped Bahrain’s superior access to the region’s biggest market – Saudi Arabia – and its skilled local staff.
Bahrain’s uprising in February and March made the decision to quit the troubled island kingdom a “no-brainer”, according to staff involved in the decision. Over the next year, Crédit Agricole plans to put the bulk of its Bahrain and Dubai operations into a larger office at Dubai’s financial centre, while maintaining a small wealth management office in Manama. The bank declined to comment.
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