(Bloomberg) –Standard Chartered Plc is becoming the recruitment ground for Dubai’s biggest bank.

Emirates NBD PJSC on Monday said it hired Patrick Sullivan from the London-based lender as group chief financial officer, replacing Surya Subramanian, also a former Standard Chartered banker. Subramanian in 2010 took over from Sanjay Uppal, once CFO for Standard Chartered in the United Arab Emirates.

Read: Emirates NBD posts 63% jump in 9-month net profit, appoints new CFO

And it’s not just CFOs that state-backed Emirates NBD is hiring from Standard Chartered.

Chief Executive Officer Shayne Nelson was previously head of Standard Chartered Private Bank when he joined the Dubai lender six years ago. Jonathan Morris, who until recently was Emirates NBD’s head of wholesale banking, was Standard Chartered’s CEO in the U.A.E. until 2014. Head of retail Suvo Sarkar also worked at the emerging markets-focused lender, as did Chief Risk Officer Manoj Chawla.

Standard Chartered is one of about 50 local and foreign banks that operate in the U.A.E., catering to a population of less than 10 million. Competition in the industry is fierce and sluggish economic growth is forcing banks to merge.