These are uneasy times for bankers in the Middle East.

The slump in oil is draining billions of dollars from the banking system stock markets are volatile investment is slowing and global banks are firing workers under pressure to boost returns.

Still a proliferation of independent advisory companies shows that some see the distress as an opportunity. One such Dubai-based boutique is C.H. Stirling. Run by two ex-Merrill Lynch bankers the firm advises local governments and other family businesses on restructurings and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). It's planning to raise $27 million of fresh capital and triple its staff by next summer.

"Markets are getting more difficult and banks' balance sheets are no longer available to be used as bait for mandates" said Christopher Flinos 38 who founded the firm two years ago. "The more difficulty accessing markets the more people need quality independent advice."

Former Deutsche Bank banker Shailesh Doshi started a Middle East-focused private equity and advisory firm this year. Rody Yared and Samer A. Katerji former bankers from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup started Trussbridge Advisory DIFC Ltd. Albert Momdjian who handled UBS Group's wealthiest clients in the Middle East quit last year to start an investment company in Dubai.

Some though are questioning whether there's enough work to go around. "I suspect there will be a shake out and not all boutiques will survive but we are also seeing a lot more smaller opportunities open up which may serve the boutiques well" Vikas Papriwal head of markets at KPMG in the Lower Gulf said. "One advantage of these boutiques is that their cost base is different."

Flinos and fellow partner Marc Aouad are setting the firm up as an outlier in thebanking world as they seek to attract clients and recruits.They've installed a full-sized pool table in the main reception area dartboards hang on meeting room walls and employees challenge each other to mini golf at a miniature course.

"Our clients our team and potential new joiners like that we do things differently and are trying to bring back the best of the good days of merchant banking" Flinos said. "We're in a serious business but need to create an atmosphere where people are free to come up with the best ideas."

To finance growth the firm is seeking Dh100 million ($27.2 million) from institutional investors in Oman Saudi Arabia and Qatar. About 20 per cent of that is earmarked for hiring and the remainder to bolster capital and private equity deals. Since its inception in 2013 Flinos says the firm has advised on about Dh4 billion of real estate media hospitality and healthcare deals.

The challenges for such boutiques include the lack of a full network or skill set that the big investment banks can offer according to KPMG's Papriwal. Their market share as measured by fees is also a fraction of the larger banks - and it's getting smaller.

In M&A and equity capital markets they garnered about four per cent of the fees in 2015 compared with five per cent last year and six per cent in 2013 according to data from New York-based research firm Freeman & Co.

They're also confronting a slowdown in the region amid the drop in crude prices. Dubai's DFM General Index has lost about 15 per cent this year property prices are falling and lenders such as National Bank of Abu Dhabi have lost billions of dollars in government deposits.

That means there may be no shortage of resumes for the C.H. Stirling to sift through as the larger financial firms embark on large rounds of redundancies.

Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered are among banks eliminating about 30000 positions. HSBC is shedding about 150 employees in the UAE while BNP Paribas is also laying employees off in the region according to people familiar with the matter. - Bloomberg