According to Mahdi Mattar, chief economist at Shuaa Capital, and himself a Lebanese national, Shuaa is not, for the moment at least, interested in taking advantage of any particular capital-raising or advisory opportunities in Lebanon. Instead, the main purpose of the office, says Mattar, will be to snap up Lebanese banking talent to be exported to Shuaa’s offices elsewhere.
"The office in Beirut will probably be little more than a data centre. The main point of it will be to hire people, and train them up. We’ll use it as a recruitment platform," says Mattar.
Beirut has long been regarded as the banking capital of the Middle East. Part of Lebanon’s success in producing successful financiers springs from the fact that many educated people speak English as well as Arabic and French. The American University of Beirut, which recently announced that it would run an executive MBA course in Kuwait, is often cited as the leading university in the Middle East.
In recent times, Bahrain and Dubai have emerged as the financial hubs of the region. Yet Lebanese professionals still dominate the region’s financial industry, maintaining an important presence in global centres too.
