A senior Middle Eastern banker has left Crédit Agricole’s Saudi Arabian investment banking business to launch his own advisory boutique in a bid to take advantage of what he believes is a gap left by large banks in the market.

Firas Chakra, chief executive of Calyon Saudi Fransi, the Saudi Arabia-based investment banking joint venture between French bank Crédit Agricole and Riyadh-based Banque Saudi Fransi, has left his role and returned to London.