The Appointment of Wahed’s New CEO

Wahed Founder Junaid Wahedna announces the appointment of Mohsin Siddiqui as the new Group CEO of Wahed.

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Dear Stakeholders,

Today, I am thrilled to announce that Mohsin Siddiqui has succeeded me as CEO of Wahed. 

I founded Wahed with the intention of solving “the Riba problem" -  a problem every Muslim is painstakingly familiar with. How do we live in a world without partaking in riba, when our bank accounts, mortgages, pensions, and insurance providers are all built on a foundation of interest? This theoretical challenge soon became an obsession as we continued to learn and dive deeper into the inner workings of our financial system. Our solution is beautiful in its simplicity and in theory. All our wealth is to be stored in assets, rather than the norm of storing funds at our local money-lending institutions (banks). Creating the infrastructure to solve for liquidity, safety and regulatory nuances, education for the mass consumer, and finally, tying all the pieces together to create a global one-stop-shop financial institution is a multi-decade endeavor. The biggest risk in this, however, was always ‘execution risk’.

We were very fortunate one year ago to have Mohsin join us as our Chief Operating Officer. His impact on the firm was immediate, and we ended the year with over 100% revenue growth, a 33% decrease in costs, and new exciting lines of product being launched imminently. The company has never been in a stronger position. We’re beating targets with wind in our sails. None of this would have been possible without Mohsin’s leadership.

Having said this, our mission is yet to be achieved; we have a long way to go in order to tie the pieces together to achieve a true Riba-free world.

Mohsin was tailor-made for his role as CEO. He has a Bachelor’s in Finance and an MBA from Queen's University in Canada. Mohsin was with the UK-based RegTech company ComplyAdvantage, serving as its Chief Revenue Officer, tasked with leading its revenue growth objectives after its Series-C round of funding. Mohsin started his career at OANDA, a New York-based online trading fintech, where he served as the Chief Customer Officer and Managing Director. At OANDA, Mohsin grew OANDA's core presence in the U.S. and Canadian markets and spearheaded its expansion into several APAC markets. He played a critical role in helping build these two private equity-backed, regulated firms into giants in their respective domains. Even so, what really sealed the deal was his passion for our vision and mission.

More than his decorated CV, Mohsin has a deep personal attachment to our mission. Growing up in the western world, it was a painstaking process to avoid mainstream financial products that were the societal norm. Mohsin has actively faced the struggles of our clients firsthand, such as avoiding mortgages, avoiding investing retirement savings plans in riba-based mutual funds, and avoiding carrying credit card balances or interest-based car loans. At Wahed, we are in a position to eventually solve all of these problems.

I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to hold this dream job (was this even a job?) for the past 8 years. We have been incredibly blessed to have mission-driven and supportive shareholders and board members who continue to show us the tough love needed to navigate the tides towards our north star. 

I plan on being attached to the company as Chairman. It's an honour and a blessing to be part of such a beautiful mission, and I pray to see the day when we have a genuine alternative to the riba-based system. There is no doubt in my mind that we can be a truly global, $100 billion asset manager. We see the numbers, and we know what we need to do. 

This decision was easy for me. My desire to build a great company that could change the Islamic financial services industry was far more important than my title. In my new role as Chairman, I get to focus on my greatest strengths: serving as a strategy leader and ensuring a true vision and path forward. 

Mohsin, congratulations on your new position. Our teammates and clients couldn’t be more fortunate to have you at the helm. May God bless you and our team in this increasingly important mission and grant us all success.

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Junaid Wahedna

Chairman

Wahed Inc.