Credit Suisse Group AG, whose second-largest shareholder is theQatar Investment Authority, is cutting its investment bankingbusiness in Dubai to focus on Qatar and Saudi Arabia, a personfamiliar with the matter said.

Two bankers will move to Doha from Dubai as part of plans toshift the regional investment banking department headquarters toQatar, the person said, asking not to be named as the news isn'tpublic. The bank will also cut about three positions in Dubai andtransfer another as it moves its equities business to Riyadh, theperson said. Bassam Yammine, MENA investment banking departmentco-head, already left the bank, the person said.

Qatar and Credit Suisse are boosting ties after the nation tooka 6 percent stake in the Zurich-based bank, bought its Londonheadquarters and formed asset manager Aventicum Capital Management.The country, which has the world's third-largest gas reserves, issnapping up assets to reduce its energy dependency and has $30billion to invest this year, Qatar Investment Authority boardmember Hussain Al Abdulla said in April.

“Credit Suisse remains committed to providing a range of bankingservices to the MENA region,” the bank said yesterday in astatement in response to questions on the cuts, referring to theMiddle East and North Africa region. “We continue to be proactiveabout monitoring the size of our business relative to clientopportunities and market conditions. This involves realigningresources to growth areas and adjusting capacity to meet clientneeds and to manage costs across our businesses.”

Cost Cuts

The bank said in October it will trim an additional 1 billionfrancs ($1.09 billion) in annual costs by the end of 2015, addingto a 1 billion-franc savings program from July and 2 billion-franccut in expenses achieved since last year.

Credit Suisse rose 0.9 percent to 22.72 Swiss francs as of 2:28p.m. in Zurich, after earlier gaining 1.5 percent.

The bank announced in November 2011 that it was planning toexpand in Qatar this year by providing asset-management services tolocal and international investors. The bank's board of directorsmet in Qatar about a year ago and earlier this year shifted staffto Doha from Dubai, two people familiar with the matter said inSeptember.

Credit Suisse has only been an underwriter for two bond deals inthe Gulf Cooperation Council valued at $67 million, according todata compiled by Bloomberg. This makes it the 40th underwriter inthe region out of 46, the data shows.

Industry Slump

Credit Suisse Chief Executive Officer Brady Dougan is trimmingstaff to pare costs amid an industrywide slump that's prompted morethan 300,000 job losses in the past two years. The bank last monthshook up its investment-banking unit to speed the process, mergingasset management with the private bank.

The government-run Qatar Financial Center Authority, chargedwith expanding the country's financial services industry, announceda strategy in 2010 to make Qatar a hub for asset management andreinsurance.

Hasnain Malik, Citigroup's head of research for the Middle Eastand North Africa, left the bank in recent weeks and won't bereplaced, according to two people familiar with the matter, askingnot to be named as the departure wasn't made public.

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