DUBAI: Even as the global financial community contends with layoffs and lower bonuses, banking jobs remain plentiful and salaries are surging in one unexpected corner of the world: Saudi Arabia.
It's a pay boom driven by the expansionist zeal of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who is flush with cash from oil sales and determined to make the economy a financial powerhouse. State vehicles like his Public Investment Fund, with more than $600 billion of assets, are hiring at breakneck speed, often recruiting staff from foreign firms based in the country. Wall Street banks are also desperate to expand, drawn by the promise of deals linked to an outsized attempt at economic reform.
