Trading Places

Out of work Wall Street bankers are flocking to some seemingly unlikely places to get a job.  Executives at the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit say they’ve been bombarded with resumes from bankers scrambling to leave New York and London for opportunities in the Gulf.

The boom in interest marks a sharp turnaround for a region once hard-pressed to attract top talent, a problem made worse by a relatively young population.  But bad news on Wall Street is good news for the Gulf.

“We will be a huge beneficiary of the recent layoffs in the West,” says Manaf Alhajeri, general manager at Kuwaiti investment firm Markaz.

Going global has never looked so good. The Gulf’s growth opportunities have prompted banking giants like Merrill Lynch to Credit Suisse to seek out new business as domestic deals dry up.

Meanwhile, more bad news on job front: European banks hammered by losses are mulling more job cuts, and Fidelity Investments announced plans to lay off nearly 3,000 employees this month and more to come as the mutual fund company scrambles to cut costs.

How far would you go to work? Share your thoughts below.