Mohammed Shroogi, a 30-odd-year Citigroup veteran in the region, is resigning from his post at the mammoth bank and taking a job at Investcorp, an alternative asset manager based in Bahrain.

It's a big move for Shroogi and an impressive grab for Investcorp, which deals in private equity, hedge funds, property and technology investment and has roughly $13 billion in assets under management.

Prior to joining Investcorp, Shroogi had served for 32 years at Citigroup. He had risen to become managing director for the Middle East, prior to which he had been Citi's chief executive for the UAE, among other posts at the bank.

"Mohammed Al-Shroogi is one of the most experienced bankers in the Gulf, having had an exemplary career running Citigroup across the region," Nemir A. Kirdar, Investcorp's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. "He will bring unparalleled depth of expertise and he will be instrumental in positioning our great firm in this region for the future."

Shroogi is said to be leaving Citi in September, according to a Zawya Dow Jones report. There's no word yet on his replacement.

Rothschild, the 200-year-old blue-blood bank that was appointed in April to advise the Dubai Government on the emirate's $10bn bond programme, has hired Patrick Choffel and Ibrahim Belselah as senior advisers in the Middle East.

Mr Choffel comes from AIG, the ailing American insurance firm, where he headed up operations at its American Life Insurance Company (ALICO AIG Life) subsidiary in the MENA and South Asia region. He presided over the opening of ALICO's regional headquarters in Dubai in 2006.

Mr Belselah, meanwhile, is an Emirati businessman who has held numerous positions in the Dubai Government. He was General Coordinator of Dubai 2003, a joint meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World bank that took place in the Arab world for the first time that year. In all, he spent 18 years in Dubai Government positions, rising to become Director of Finance for the Dubai Municipality.

In other revolving-door news, National Bank of Abu Dhabi installed Jeff Fallon as head of trade finance for Europe. Mr Fallon had been the head of export finance marketing in Europe at the Arab Banking Corporation in London.