Financial techie types can cash in on Middle Eastern banks’ increased focus on IT.

Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force predicts banks and financial institutions in the region are set to spend $2bn on IT this year and next – mainly centred on risk management to guard against fraud and money laundering.

Henry Pretorius, head of risk practice at IT vendor SAS, says: “Amidst the region's booming economy and the rapidly growing markets, banks and financial institutions today face a wide range of risks in the normal course of their business.”

Job opportunities on the development side are unlikely to be plentiful, as most financial firms take over-the-counter solutions from firms like SAS, SunGard, Algorithmics, Risk Metrics and RiskTech, many of whom are rushing to the region to cash in on the spending boom.

However, within each firm, the risk management systems are tailored to the i-bank’s individual needs. And the skills required to do this are relatively rare.

But it’s not just risk management that Gulf banks look set to invest in. Khaled Eid, managing director of the Dubai-based World Development Forum, reckons Arab banks will spend $1.8bn on IT in 2008 – up 15% on last year – and will be enhancing systems from front to back.

He says: “Competitiveness will not be achieved unless investment in IT is combined with comprehensive strategy, which links technology to the organisation's objectives to enable banks to provide customers with modern, secure and profitable services in such a way as to maintain their competitive edge.”

Nicola Beer, senior consultant at recruiters RP International in Dubai, says that banks’ appetite for good IT staff has picked up over the last year, and US and European techies making the move could be in for a pay rise: “If you’re moving to a bank in the Middle East for a permanent IT role, you can typically look for a 10-15% pay rise.”

However, she says that the contractor market isn’t as buoyant, and though they’re seeing an influx of temporary IT workers from Western markets, local banks would pay a maximum of £550 a day.

Mashreq Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Noor Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and HSBC are all keen to up their risk management functions, according to SAS.