Shayne Nelson

'We were an early player in the DIFC and have been very happy to date,' says regional chief executive officer of three months, Shayne Nelson from his glistening new executive suite.

'It was a logical move for us to concentrate our regional headquarters into one building, and we have been involved from the start so have exactly what we want with no columns in our state-of-the-art dealing room, for example. We will have up to a 1,000 staff based in these offices before long.'

Indeed, Standard Chartered has been on an upward growth trajectory for the past five years in the UAE with total staff numbers doubling to around 2,500 in that time.

Mr. Nelson fulfills a role left vacant by David Edwards two years ago, and now revived to meet the changing circumstances of the bank with its plush new regional headquarters. He is just back from his first regional tour and reflects on what he has learnt.

'In Tehran I saw the potential of a market of 73 million people with no credit cards but we have to bow to the current political situation. Similarly in Lebanon we have political difficulties to take into account.

'But I thought the progress in Qatar was spectacular with all the building going on. And in Jordan where we have eight branches, and Bahrain we have good prospects.

'However, consumer banking in the UAE still looks very attractive with great demographics in Dubai and an increasingly sophisticated consumer. We will have all our regional staff based in the DIFC here, our regional currency operation, corporate finance and private banking which started six months ago in Singapore.

'The DIFC has a big advantage with its English language legal system and a first class regulator similar to the FSA in the UK. We are also the banker' banker, so the establishment of over 100 financial institutions in the DIFC is good news for our business, and this is going to be something of a test for Bahrain and Qatar.'

Having spent the past 10 years in Asia, and three years in Hong Kong during its financial crisis, Mr. Nelson can offer considerable experience in handling any sort of credit environment. But he is not very worried about the impact of a likely real estate correction on the banking sector.

'In Hong Kong we found that the last thing people would do is to let their home go. We actually had more problems with credit card debts. And I must say that real estate prices in Dubai are comparable with Malaysia, where I have come from, and do not seem unrealistic prices.

'The problem is oversupply of residential property in 2007 and 2008 but we think it will be eaten up. Also commercial property supply in 2008 and 2009 looks excessive.'

On the consolidation of the UAE banking sector Mr. Nelson recalls how Malaysia slimmed down from 80 to 12 local banks and how that improved the quality of service and products. Standard Chartered has also bought local banks in many markets to grow its market share, could it do so once again in the UAE where it previously acquired ANZ Grindlays?

'Central Bank regulations would not allow us to buy a local bank at present but if that changed we would look at any opportunity at the right price,' he says.

Meanwhile, the new regional CEO is 'passionately committed' to Islamic banking which he grew strongly in Malaysia and thinks has an 'outstanding future with growth rates that no bank can afford to ignore'. This operation will also be located in the DIFC building.