Bank dips its toe into the Gulf with new office

Reters reports that Standard Chartered bank is moving personnel to Dubai.

As governments in the region deregulate industries and companies go public, banks including Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank AG have opened offices in the Gulf. This summer Standard Chartered Bank joined the Middle East banking "club", announcing that it was moving 50 to 100 jobs from London to its new Dubai office. This came close at the heels of the bank's announcement that it was opening a regional hub office in Dubai.

"We are very positive about Dubai's potential, and we want to build on our presence there," spokesman Sean Farrell said. He added that the bank doesn't plan to fire anybody, and that it was offering employees special expatriate packages.

Standard Chartered, which conducts most of its business in Asia, plans to take advantage of the economic boom in the Persian Gulf. "Standard Chartered's very positive about Dubai's prospects to be a major financial center and we want to get in early and establish a strong presence," Farrell said. The bank's Dubai office is in the emirate's International Financial Centre, meaning the company will pay no tax on income or profit. Barclays Capital ans Goldman Sachs are among the finance companies that have offices in the DIFC. U.S. oil-services company Halliburton Co. in March also announced that it would move to a new corporate headquarters in Dubai from Houston, Texas.

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