The Islamic finance industry has reached almost $2 trillion in total assets at the end of 2014

Dr. Sayd Farook will bring international expertise and track record to leading Middle East knowledge platform

21 July 2015, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Middle East Global Advisors has appointed Dr. Sayd Farook as Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. 

Dr. Sayd Farook joins ME Global Advisors from Thomson Reuters where he led the Islamic finance and markets business for over five years as the Global Head Islamic Capital Markets. In that role, he oversaw the transformation of Thomson Reuters into a global knowledge and intelligence powerhouse for the Islamic finance and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) markets, serving governments and strategic infrastructure institutions.

Over the past 22 years, ME Global Advisors has served clients in growth and frontier markets across the diverse OIC markets in regions including East Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia and East Africa.

Under Dr. Farook’s leadership, ME Global Advisors will be positioned in a key leadership role for high-frequency research and connectivity solutions, powering decision making and deal making.

Dr. Sayd Farook will be responsible for growing ME Global Advisor’s portfolio of business lines to a complete suite of knowledge solutions covering sector based intelligence, business to consumer technology connectivity platforms and human capital development solutions.

Commenting on the appointing, Mr. Ehsan Abbas, Chairman of ME Global Advisors stated: ‘I am delighted to welcome Dr. Sayd Farook to lead ME Global Advisors through a new era towards the future for MENASEA markets, as they transform from resource dependent economies to knowledge based economies.’

‘The countries stretching from Morocco in the East and Indonesia in the West with the Gulf Cooperation Countries at their center, offer tremendous potential as a leading driver of global growth with many of the countries GDP expected to grow more than 40% to 2020, ‘ said Dr. Sayd Farook.

‘We are well poised to contribute to the growth of these regions through the provision of a full suite of knowledge services building on our leadership position in the market’ he added.

Middle East Global Advisors has organized the world’s premier conferences on Islamic Finance and Takaful for over two decades. The World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) and the World Takaful Conference (WTC) have seen the attendance of luminaries from across the world including Central Bank governors, CEOs and leading thought leaders from across the Islamic world.

The global forums have seen the launch of defining thought leadership, which have shaped the Islamic banking and insurance industries’ development for 22 years.

WIBC and WTC has since spurred regional conferences including the WIBC: Asia Summit, the World Takaful Conference: Family Takaful Summit and the International Forum on Islamic Finance.

The appointment comes at a time of rapid growth and transformation for the Islamic Finance Industry. The Islamic finance industry has reached $1.94 trillion as at the end of 2014, averaging a 17% growth rate over the past three years according to data from the ICD Thomson Reuters Islamic Finance Development Indicator.

The industry is set to play an increasingly critical role in the development of Middle East North Africa Southeast Asia (MENASEA) economies as regional governments actively promote financial inclusion through targeted Shariah compliant SME funding capacity and infrastructure development through Shariah compliant funding instruments such as Sukuk.

In line with this new strategic direction, ME Global Advisors are gathering the entire spectrum of the responsible investment and finance industry from both emerging and developed markets this September at the Global Ethical Finance Forum in Edinburgh Scotland.