Tony Sareen, the former head of wealth international at Barclays Wealth in Dubai, joined Commercial Bank of Qatar in March this year as a senior vice president and head of private banking.

He is based in Qatar and reports to the executive general manager for the bank, Raju Buddiraju.

Sareen worked at Barclays Wealth in Dubai for three years and was previously based in London at the parent firm Barclays Bank.

His recruitment represents the bank’s first step into wealth management. Up until now Qatar’s largest private sector bank has specialised mainly in the investment banking, retail banking and asset management sectors.

Barclays Wealth confirmed the departure. To replace him the UK wealth manager appointed Hans Wolff, who has worked at the bank since 1999. He is based in Dubai and heads up the Middle East and North Africa team for wealth international.