UBS Group has lost a number of senior wealth management bankers in the Middle East less than two years after hiring them, in a sign of intense competition for talent in the region, Bloomberg reported on May 18.

The departures include bankers UBS recruited from HSBC Holdings in 2024, among them Rana Al Imam and Ali Khonji, according to people familiar with the matter. The bank had hired Al Imam to expand its business in Abu Dhabi, while Khonji had been tasked with running its wealth unit in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.

Al Imam has joined Banco Santander, according to some of the people, who asked not to be identified given the confidentiality of the information. Khonji joined Swiss wealth manager J. Safra Sarasin earlier in the year, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Khonji and representatives of the banks declined to comment, while Al Imam could not be reached.

In the years before the outbreak of the conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States, the region had gradually been turning into a hub for the world's wealthy. The United Arab Emirates in particular drew a number of high-net-worth individuals on the back of an attractive tax regime, low crime rates and a location at the meeting point of several continents and time zones.

In response, firms including UBS, HSBC and Deutsche Bank began expanding headcount, fuelling a race for talent. In December, UBS appointed Borja Martinez Laredo as head of its Abu Dhabi office, shortly after announcing the opening of a new office in the emirate. The Swiss bank also operates offices elsewhere in the Gulf, including in Dubai, Riyadh, Qatar and Bahrain.

There have also been cases of firms scaling back. Swiss wealth manager Lombard Odier decided last year to close its Abu Dhabi office, Bloomberg has reported. HSBC told more than 1,000 clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar and Egypt that they could no longer continue dealing with its Swiss wealth management unit, according to people familiar with the matter last year.