UBS said it has appointedPer Larsson as chief executive for the Middle East and North Africa and as a member of the group managing board.

Mr Larsson will join UBS on 1 October and will be based in Dubai, reporting to Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, chairman and chief executive of UBS Group, EMEA.

Michel Adjadj will be appointed chairman for MENA, in addition to his current role as head of UBS’s Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and African Wealth Management business.

Until recently, Mr Larsson was the chief executive of Borse Dubai and chief executive and board member of the Dubai International Financial Exchange. In this role, he developed the DIFX into a fully functional exchange attracting the biggest initial public offering in the Middle East through DP World and growing the Sukuk market on the DIFX to become the world's largest.

As the chief executive of Borse Dubai he was instrumental in the creation of the partnership between the NASDAQ OMX Group and the DIFX.

Before joining Borse Dubai and DIFX, Mr Larsson was the Executive Chairman of Nilorngruppen and OSM; president, chief executive and board member of OMX; and chairman of the OMX Stock and Derivatives Exchanges, OMLX in the UK (today EDX) and OMX Technology.