Crescent Group this week confirmed the appointment of Dr Sayd Farook, who will lead its five-year strategic plan to grow assets under management to $5 billion by the end of 2026.
Dr Farook, who has collaborated with Crescent Wealth for over a decade, has previously served as strategy and innovation adviser to the executive office of the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.
Most recently, Dr Farook was the executive director of the not-for-profit Crescent Foundation which raised funds to support refugees and the homeless.
He has also worked as global head of Islamic capital markets for Thomson Reuters (now Refinitiv).
“Dr Farook’s role will be to effectively, and appropriately serve the needs of Crescent Wealth’s 11,000 customers while supporting the growth and execution of the Crescent Finance proposition, harnessing data and analytics throughout the growth journey,” founder Professor Talal Yassine OAM said.
“Combining his experiences incubating and leading large strategic growth initiatives and in global Islamic finance with our leadership position in the Australian market, we believe we can really improve access to financial services for Australia’s Muslims, which have almost reached one million.”
Dr Farook said the Crescent Finance’s issuing of Islamic-complaint mortgages is significant in addressing financial services exclusions faced by Australian Muslims.
“Having served in global overseas roles over 14 years, it was a travesty to learn that Muslims back home are excluded from being able to buy a house due to the lack of authentic Islamic options that avoid the paying of interest, which is forbidden in Islam,” he said.
“According to the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2021 by Dinar Standard, the total addressable Australian market for Islamically compliant finance and investment is $250 billion. Yet, Muslims in Australia struggle with access to financial services.
“That is why I’m so excited to support the Crescent Group in opening up financial security for all Australians by leading the growth strategy of Crescent Wealth and Crescent Finance.”
Neil Griffiths
Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.
Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.
