Royal Bank of Scotland plans to build out its investment banking business across the Middle East following the sale of its United Arab Emirates retail operations, amid indications of a bounce back in the region's bond market in the fourth quarter that could see sales of up to $10bn, a top bank executive said.

"We're making an investment across the investment banking horizon," Simon Penney, RBS chief executive officer for the Middle East and Africa, told Zawya Dow Jones in an interview in Dubai late on Sunday. "We're bullish on the Middle East region."