Investment Banking In Dubai: Hours, Salary, Deal flow, culture, go-to banks
Hello everyone,
I hope you are well. I am graduating in July 2022 from two European target schools (France and Italy), and have previous experience in IB. I could land a position in Paris, but I am considering Dubai for multiple reasons:
- Some of my friends are starting there and tell me that it's amazing for young professionals
- I speak Arabic
- I would like to exit in a MENA focused fund (VC or PE) or create my own venture in the region
This being said I don't know that much about the deal flow, the culture, and the go-to banks in the region so I would be interested in your feedback.
Do you think it is better to start in Paris knowing that salaries are lower (because of taxes) and life is more expensive?
I did all my internships in teams covering the TMT sector and would love to continue in this field so if some banks are known to have a strong TMT or Tech team in the region, I would be super interested.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Ib.intern, check out these threads:
More suggestions...
Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.
I work in the region.
Go to banks: Moelis is top and Rothschild is a close second. Then comes BBs like JPM, Citi, GS, MS, CS in that order. Dont know where to put BofA, but they seem to be doing good. UBS Barclays should be the bottom end of the BBs. Evr & HL trying to grow
Deal Flow: As with any region, the better banks get better deal flows. But I think in Dubai, even the mid tier banks get very good deal flow, not sure what reason should I attribute this to
House: very very sweaty
Culture: depends on the bank ofcourse. I do probably one of the longest hours in the region. But a great culture helps me to feel a bit better than friends at other banks where culture is not so good
Salary: Very high. Especially after taxes. You should be paid nearly US base and bonuses at 80% of these places and a bit lower on the other
TMT is very nascent in the region. If that is your end goal, you should stay in Paris. Or go to Dubai and then lateral to EU or London, which is getting very very common recently
This is by far the most informative piece of information on the region, appreciate you taking the time out.
Would it be alright to PM you for some advice / insight on your experience(s)?
I'd request to keep the questions public. We are all anon here anyway.
That way, the content is useful for mote than just 1-2 people, down the line.
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond, this was very informative!
hi, if you have the time could you talk a bit about recruiting and how much does university name matter here,do you just apply online or network..?
I just received an Associate 2 offer for: 152k base + 60% - 120% bonus. What do you think about?
Looks low to me...
What do u thunk? What should moelis and rotsch pay?
I work at one of moelis and Roth - and the shop I work at pay close to 175 for Asso 2. However the best way to look at it is to compare your pay with your firms London / NYC payscales
Any school that will get you a look in London or NYC will get you looks in Dubai. Same with top Lebanese schools.
And no, from my own experience and some of my other friends who tried both London/NYC and Dubai, the interview process was significantly tougher in Dubai. Way more technical. Also in terms of % of applicants to vacancies, it is almost the same if not more compared to London / Dubai.
Hey - I have a couple of questions and wanted to check if I can reach out?
Dubai IB is def like playing in the minor leagues.
good money but would be very high to come back to high finance in london, let alone nyc.
also dubai is a place devoid of any real culture or belonging.
if you are not arab or brown (india, pakistan etc); id stay away. on the other hand if you are an underachieving white person, being white alone will open many doors for you in a place like dubai. they literally worship us there.
I'd like to disagree with your first point though. It is very much do-able to shift to London from Dubai.
Personally know people, who lateralled to PJT, JPM and GS London from a much lower tier shops in Dubai.
Have also seen one internal transfer to NYC and one to West Coast. Lateral should be tough to US I'd reckon, unless you are a US citizen.
( https://www.globaldata.com/jp-morgan-rothschild-co-top-ma-financial-adv… )
I'd just say take this with a pinch of salt, and don't rely entirely on this as these numbers also include deals carried out even entirely from London, with just very little coverage from regional bankers.
Obviously for anyone trying to get into the region, target all these plus other names that are outside of these. But once you get interviews, try to find out how much you as a junior, would be involved in the deal and other such factors.
Duly noted, thanks for the heads-up !
Reiterates your earlier guidance with respect to regional positioning & can be used as a checklist for aspirants within the region.
Would you have any comments on regional boutiques like Awad, Arqaam, DeNovo etc.?
can anyone give any insights on target universities in the UAE?
Hey Everyone,
Hope you are well! Any insight on Swicorp (in IB or PE / deals, package, etc ) they seem to be pretty present in the region.
Have a nice day !
how many posts until somebody asks about LGBTQ recruiting in Dubai?
Go to the UAE if you're fine with a sociopathic government watching and listening to everything you do in your life. It's a fucking dystopia. Royal family is weirdly obsessed with surveillance it's baffling. Try to make one negative comment about the country or its government, you're done.
That said though it gets worse for IB. You will waste a lot of your time for too little.
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