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It is common knowledge throughout the world that the Middle East is a hot bed of financial activity. Yet, where as the regions banks may hold plenty of cash, what can be said about their brand value? The Brand Finance review of the top 500 financial service brands in the world, provides great insight into the top finance brands by sector. Unfortunately for the Middle East’s banks, their brand value could not get anywhere close to that of the big brands in the rest of the world.

The fragility of the Middle East financial industry was brought to light as the financial crisis hit. Despite the boom of recent years in the region, the recession led to an exodus of foreign investment, as well as a big chunk of the expat workforce. The global economic crisis damaged the level of foreign investment into the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) region. Foreign direct investment (FDI) to the area, covering 14 Arab countries, fell from US$64 billion in 2007 to around US$60 billion in 2008. This illustrates how people were prepared to invest money in the fledgling financial sector in the Middle East whilst things were going well, but then quickly lost confidence at the first signs of trouble.

Source : busmanagementme.com