U.S. bank Lehman set to open in Dubai, Qatar http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type=bankingFinancial&storyID=nL27655685
Monday 27 March 2006
LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers (LEH.N: Quote, Profile, Research) plans to join the rush of investment banks setting up in the Middle East by opening offices in Dubai and Qatar this year, the bank said on Monday.
Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank by market value, is aiming to have half of its revenues come from outside the United States. The figure is around 39 percent now, with around two thirds of that being generated in Europe.
Jeremy Isaacs, Lehman Brothers' chief executive officer of Europe and Asia, told Reuters in an interview late last week he was excited about the increasingly active investors and record oil revenues in the Middle East, where there was over $2.2 trillion of investable assets.
"The petrodollar is real and it's absolutely going to change the balance of the global economic power," Isaacs said.
The international divisions were the main drivers of growth last year at New York-based Lehman Brothers, and Isaacs said it is targeting Asia in general and Japan in particular for future investment.
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