Goldman Hires From UBS, BNP to Grow Mideast Wealth Business

(Bloomberg) --

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. hired senior bankers to the super rich from rivals including UBS Group AG and BNP Paribas SA as it looks to expand its offering to wealthy families in the Middle East.

The New York-based bank named Shrooq Abualif AlMuhaid as managing director and head of private wealth management for Saudi Arabia, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. AlMuhaid, one of the first Saudi female investment bankers, will be joined by four more advisers in Dubai and two in Geneva, the bank said.

The team’s additions follow the appointment earlier this year of Gabriel Aractingi, a former executive at UBS and Bahrain’s Investcorp Bank BSC, as head of the Middle East and North Africa region for the private banking division. Several of the new hires are joining from UBS and Investcorp.

“These hires will deepen our ability to provide bespoke service to key families and individuals in the region and deliver global investment solutions across public and private markets,” said Stefan Bollinger, co-head of private wealth management for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Goldman has committed to “an aggressive growth plan” under Bollinger after reopening its office in Geneva. It’s part of a broader push by Goldman into more stable business areas to make the firm less reliant on trading revenue. 

Rich families in the Middle East, which often also control large conglomerates, are an attractive opportunity. Bollinger has said that the goal in the region, home to a growing number of the ultra-rich, is to double the size of Goldman’s wealth management business.

Looking to bulk up its presence in the oil-rich Gulf, the bank earlier named Fadi Abuali and Zaid Khaldi as co-chief executive officers for the Middle East and North Africa after Wassim Younan, the regional CEO, retired at the end of 2020.

AlMuhaid, who previously worked at Investcorp and Saudi private equity group Jadwa Investment Co., will join Goldman on Nov. 8.

The other hires will join as executive directors in Dubai and Geneva:

• Yousef Alhozaimy will focus on Riyadh and Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. He previously worked at Investcorp and Deutsche Bank AG.
• Khalid A. Soufi will work on the Western region of Saudi Arabia. He was previously at Investcorp and SAAB.
• Ahmed Parekh will cover key families and joins from French bank BNP Paribas.
• Jean-Pierre Comaty to focus on offering investment solutions to family offices and ultra-high-net-worth families. He previously worked at Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
• Cedric Deleamont, who spent the last 13 years at UBS, will focus on key relationships across the Gulf region.
• Jerome Lauber joins from UBS and will focus on UHNW and family office clients across the Gulf.

“This underscores our growing commitment to the Middle East as the region’s businesses and investor community grow in scale, sophistication and importance globally,” said Abuali.

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