Cantor Fitzgerald is beefing up its Middle East footprint by hiring 16 professionals to build out a fixed income desk in Abu Dhabi, with the team led by Tom Goodale, a former senior executive from Stifel. Goodale has joined Cantor alongside ten of his former colleagues, marking a substantial talent acquisition as the investment bank deepens its regional presence. The majority of the new hires will be based in Abu Dhabi, while the remainder are splitting between London and Singapore, according to reporting on the appointment.
The hiring drive forms part of a coordinated regional expansion that began in December 2025 when Cantor opened its Abu Dhabi office within the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international financial center. The fixed income team will work closely with Ali Khalpey, Cantor's Head of Middle East Investment Banking and Capital Markets, who joined the firm last year with a mandate to build a team of 25 to 50 professionals across Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Khalpey previously served as Head of Equity Capital Markets at EFG Hermes and brings extensive transaction execution and client development experience across the region.
Goodale brings substantial expertise in European fixed income markets, drawing on his background at Stifel, where the firm operates a well-established UK and European fixed income platform with approximately 40 trading and sales professionals across London, Paris and Zurich. Stifel's European franchise has traded more than $14 billion of credit securities and financial instruments over the past year, suggesting Goodale has operated within a sophisticated fixed income operation. The timing of his departure reflects Cantor's ambition to replicate that scale in the Gulf region, leveraging his established relationships and market knowledge.
Cantor Fitzgerald, founded in 1945, is among the last remaining independent investment banks on Wall Street and operates from over 60 office locations worldwide. The firm, headquartered in New York, generated approximately $7.2 billion in revenue and employs about 14,000 professionals globally. Cantor operates as one of only 23 primary dealers permitted to trade U.S. government securities directly with the Federal Reserve. Its business lines span capital markets, investment banking, fixed income and equities sales and trading, prime brokerage services, research and asset management.
The appointment signals Cantor's conviction that the Gulf region represents a significant growth opportunity for its fixed income franchise. The Middle East has seen rising IPO activity and capital formation, with some analysts suggesting the region could generate 8 percent annual growth in capital markets activity. Goodale's hire, combined with his team transfer from Stifel, suggests Cantor believes it can capture market share in fixed income from established competitors already operating in the region, potentially competing for institutional clients such as sovereign wealth funds and regional asset managers. The move also reflects confidence in Ali Khalpey's regional leadership and the receptiveness of local regulators and market participants to Cantor's expansion.
