European Islamic Investment Bank Plc senior management appointments

Atif Raza (47) has been appointed Chief Operating Officer and Finance Director, while Jeremy Beswick (47) has been appointed Head of Asset Management.

Raza is a UK qualified chartered accountant with over 20 years' experience in public accounting and chief financial officer roles in international financial institutions in the UK and Middle East.

He was previously with Unicorn Investment Bank in Bahrain, where he was the Chief Financial Officer. Prior to that, he was CFO for Citicards UK, a Citigroup entity and CFO for Saudi American Bank (SAMBA) in Saudi Arabia. He was a director of UIB Capital Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia until November 2005.

Beswick joins EIIB following a three-year spell as Head of Business Development for RMB MultiManagers, which is the London-based international investment management arm of FirstRand Group, one of South Africa's largest financial services companies. He was recruited specifically by them to establish the group's international institutional business.

Before this, Beswick spent seven years from 1995 to 2002 with US mutual fund company MFS. He established and launched its operations in Europe, and was Managing Director (Europe) between 1995 and 1999. From 1999 to 2002, he was seconded to MFS's owner Sun Life of Canada, to become CEO of India's second-largest mutual fund company, Birla Sun Life AMC.

Commenting on the appointments, John Weguelin, Managing Director, EIIB, said, "We are delighted to have someone of Atif's experience to fill this key position. It demonstrates the calibre and depth of the personnel that we are able to attract. Jeremy brings a wide range of international and institutional asset management experience, with a strong track record of establishing and launching businesses. We believe this experience will prove invaluable as we look to develop our asset management and private banking offerings."

EIIB plans to develop a range of its own Sharia'a compliant investment funds during the coming year, covering the hedge fund, private equity and real estate asset classes, and including capital-protected structured products. EIIB will also partner with other financial institutions, both Islamic and conventional, to create bespoke Sharia'a compliant investment products according to demand.

The EIIB senior management team now comprises John Weguelin (Managing Director), Atif Raza (Chief Operating Officer and Finance Director), Danie Marx (Head of Treasury & Capital Markets), Jeremy Beswick (Head of Asset Management), Mohaimin Chowdhury (Head of Legal, Sharia'a and Compliance), and Grant Lowe (Head of Risk Management). All have joined EIIB in the past twelve months.