Swiss bank UBS to relocate head of SWF business to Dubai

UBS is relocating Alberto Palombi, head of the investment bank’s global sovereign wealth fund business, to Dubai as deals pick up in the Middle East, said two people familiar with the decision who asked not to be identified as the information is not public.

Mr Palombi, currently based in London, joined the largest Swiss bank in 2012 after the appointment of Andrea Orcel as head of UBS’s investment bank. Prior to joining UBS, Mr Palombi worked as a managing director for Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Dubai, the people said.

UBS, based in Zurich, was among lenders that scaled back investment-banking operations in the Middle East last year as deal-making slowed. The bank cut about 10 investment-banking jobs in Dubai, a person familiar with the matter said last April. Deals in the region are picking up again as financial markets improve and economic growth accelerates in most Gulf countries.

The Gulf Arab region is home to sovereign wealth funds such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Qatar Investment Authority, which pool billions of dollars of oil wealth to make investments across the world.

A spokesman for UBS declined to comment, while Mr Palombi did not answer an e-mail seeking comment.

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