Arab Bank Switzerland, the Geneva-headquartered Swiss private banking group, has launched a new Middle East entity in the Dubai International Financial Centre and appointed Samir Atitallah as its Chief Executive Officer. The move deepens the group’s presence in the United Arab Emirates, one of the region’s fastest-growing hubs for wealth management.
The new firm, ABS (Middle East) Limited, is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority and will serve entrepreneurs, family offices and high-net-worth individuals across the UAE and the wider region. The launch marks the next step in the group’s strategy to build a scalable regional presence, bringing the bank closer to clients it has served across the Middle East since the 1960s.
Samir Atitallah joins from Mirabaud (Middle East) Limited, where he served as Chief Executive Officer of the DIFC-based banking entity operating under a Category 1 licence. His appointment gives the new business a leader with direct experience of building and running a regulated wealth management operation in the same financial centre.
Earlier in his career, Atitallah worked at Ernst & Young before joining Banque Pictet & Cie, where he was part of the Organisation and Strategy team. That background spans advisory, private banking and operational strategy, the disciplines the group will lean on as it scales the Dubai platform.
The DIFC has become a magnet for international private banks seeking proximity to Gulf wealth, offering an independent regulator, a common-law framework and access to a concentration of family offices and entrepreneurs. Arab Bank Switzerland’s decision to establish a dedicated licensed entity, rather than serve the region remotely, reflects the intensifying competition among Swiss and international names for Middle Eastern private clients.
For the group, the launch formalises decades of regional relationships into a locally regulated business. For Atitallah, it is a mandate to grow a new franchise from within one of the world’s most competitive wealth management centres, targeting the entrepreneurs and family offices driving capital formation across the Gulf.
The appointment comes as Gulf economies channel record oil-era surpluses and private wealth into the region’s financial centres, prompting a wave of Swiss and European private banks to formalise their local footprints. Establishing a licensed DIFC entity allows Arab Bank Switzerland to book and advise client relationships onshore in Dubai, meet regulatory expectations around substance and proximity, and compete more directly for mandates that were previously served from Geneva or booking centres outside the region. With Atitallah leading the new business, the group is positioning itself to capture a larger share of the entrepreneurs, family offices and next-generation wealth reshaping capital flows across the United Arab Emirates and the broader Middle East.
