Rohit Walia, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of Bank Sarasin-Alpen Group and Mahboob Murshed, Managing Director accepted the award at a ceremony held at the Emirates Towers Hotel, Dubai on 13th December, 2011.
Bank Sarasin-Alpen is a subsidiary of Bank Sarasin & Co. Ltd, Switzerland – an organization which has been known for Sustainable Swiss private banking since 1841. The Sarasin Group is incorporated in the GCC as Sarasin-Alpen. It was established in the region through its first office in Dubai in 2005 and since then has built a strong presence by expanding its operations to Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and India. Bank Sarasin-Alpen provides a complete range of first class private banking and investment advisory solutions to private and institutional clients in GCC and South Asia.
Bank Sarasin & Co. Ltd launched its Islamic Wealth Management offering from Switzerland in late 2009. Through the offering it provides a full spectrum of Sharia-compliant private banking products and services including estate and succession planning, financing and asset management, including money market and structured products such as Wakala, Murabaha and Maraya. It also has established an independent Sharia Advisory board comprising eminent scholars such as Sheikh Dr Mohamed Ali Elgari, Dr Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani and Dr Monzer Kahf, which ensures that this high-quality offering is fully compliant with Sharia principles. Sarasin’s Islamic wealth management service is based on an intense investment screening process, which incorporates elaborate Sharia monitoring and control procedures.
“We are honoured to be recognized as the Best Wealth Manager by the Islamic Business and Finance Awards. We launched our Islamic wealth management services in 2009 to meet increasing client demand. This offering along with our already existing conventional offering has helped us in strengthening our position in the GCC region,” Rohit Walia, said.
“Our relentless focus on client needs was the inspiration behind the development of this offering which combines the highest standards of Swiss private banking with Sharia principles. Many of our clients have expressed an interest in this type of investment approach and we are extremely delighted that our complete range of products and services has been welcomed by clients,” Fares Mourad, Managing Director and Head of Islamic Finance, said.