The major increases in oil prices during the 1970s caused many changes in the socio-economic map of the Middle East, including substantially increased financial flows to and from the oil economies. In a short time, the oil exporters became also capital exporters. Some of the financial institutions managing these flows had to establish a presence i n international financial centres in a rather short period. In many ways the 1970s will be seen in banking and finance circles as the decade of int...