London-based United Bank of Kuwait (UBK) has effectively completed a restructuring programme which has been marked by high turnover of key staff over the last 12 months. 'We've reached the stage at which there is only a little more fine-tuning to be done,' says UBK group chief executive officer (CEO) Adel el-Labban.

Since October, three deputy CEOs have been appointed to head newly-created divisions. Philip Young came from Daiwa Europe to head the finance, operations and risk department, Bruno Martorano came from Banque Nationale de Paris to run private banking and asset management and David Witham, an internal appointment, leads the commercial division.

Over the last year, UBK has experienced a widespread change in personnel. El-Labban himself arrived last April, after the departure of Chris Keen. In 1999, of a total workforce of about 280 over 100 left the bank, including seven out of the nine-strong group management committee. Twelve out of 23 of the management and business heads have left the bank since last December. Notable among these are Nick Anderson, head of institutional marketing, Sandy Shaw, chief executive of private banking, Chris Allen, head of private banking, Bernard Wagenmann, chief executive of UBK Asset Management and Mark Burton, chief executive of the real estate group.

'The departure of a number of senior executives is not really significant,' saysEl-Labban. 'We have a new team of young professionals who will develop the bank's lines of business.'

UBK's Islamic Investment Banking Unit (IIBU) has experienced the most dramatic change over the last six weeks. Since the beginning of December, Duncan Smith, chief executive of Islamic financial services, and seven of the other 11 members of the IIBU asset management team, have left the bank to join another institution. Abdulkader Steven Thomas, previously the chief executive of Islamic financial services in the domestic US market, has taken over Smith's role. 'Thomas is the key technical person,' says El-Labban. 'The new management will bring a more focused approach, and greater penetration of the market.'

El-Labban says that the restructuring of UBK has paved the way for the forthcoming merger with Bahrain-based Al-Ahli Commercial Bank. 'The rationale is clear, we want to link our product origination capacity withAl-Ahli's extremely good retail franchise,' he says. 'Adding value through distribution is the name of the business.' El-Labban expects the merger to be completed by June, and that details of the share exchange ratio, which lies at the heart of the merger, will be made public by the end of the month. 'Al-Ahli is comfortable with our overall position,' says El-Labban. 'They have faith that we are managing processes in a way that will be of benefit to both sides.'