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Royal Bank of Scotland International is the latest global bank to stake its claim to a place in the UAE. Diana Milne meets CEO Ian Henderson to find out why.

When it comes to banking and finance - the Middle East is where the real action is. That's the view of the Royal Bank of Scotland which joins the long list of other international financial institutions eager to grab a piece of the action in the region.

The booming economy and large population of expatriate high earners, particularly in the UAE, has created a strong demand for offshore banking services.

And that's precisely what Royal Bank of Scotland International wants to tap into with the establishment of its Dubai office.

The office will offer offshore banking services and products designed specifically for expatriates and international customers and will also cater to international companies that relocate staff to the UAE.

Royal Bank of Scotland International CEO Ian Henderson describes why the UAE is such a lucrative market for his company: "We see signification potential in Dubai in particular. My international personal banking business is looking at British and Irish expatriate communities all over the world.

"And essentially we've got to prioritise where we go next.

"Having done the full analysis we've concluded that the ME was the top priority.

"The first decision was to go to the Middle East. The second decision was where.

"Because the biggest concentration of British and Irish expatariates is in Dubai we decided to open our first Middle East office there."

He goes on to reveal that the company is also looking to open an office in Abu Dhabi where it also sees strong potential.

"We're looking at quite quickly establishing ourselves in Abu Dhabi once we've got our feet under the table in Dubai.

"Our research indicates that A) there is a degree of demand there and B) there is a sufficient population that it might make sense."

Royal Bank of Scotland's presence in the region has been considerably strengthened through its acquisition of ABN Amro last year.

The bank acquired ABN Amro as part of a consortium with the Belgian bank Fortis and the Spanish bank Banco Santander paying a share of around US$20bn for its purchase.

Through the acquisition, the bank now has banking assets in Saudi Arabia and is currently assessing the potential for it to expand its services there as a result, Henderson revealed.

"On the back of the ABN Amro acquisition we've acquired banking assets in Saudi Arabia as well but right now RBS is focusing on the UAE.

"Because of the assets we've acquired in Saudi Arabia we'll be assessing the market opportunities there and the nature of the assets required to assess what if anything they want to do in our part of the world.

"That's not an RBS International task. It will be colleagues in other parts of the group that will be assessing the potential of the Saudi market."

He goes on to say that the bank will also leverage on its existing Middle East presence through the private banking division Coutts & Co, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland group.

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