Islamic finance specialist Offa has appointed Qasim Sajad, Saalik Haleem and Dominic Squires to senior roles in the firm.
Sajad will be a senior home finance manager at Offa and previously worked at Al Rayan Bank for more than 12 years, most recently as a home purchase plan direct manager.
Haleem will take on the role of senior intermediary and product manager and also joins from Al Rayan Bank, where he worked for around nine years in various intermediary-focused roles.
Sajad and Haleem will report to Sagheer Malik, chief commercial officer and managing director of retail finance for Offa.
Squires will be the Islamic finance specialist’s head of compliance and money laundering reporting officer for buy to let (BTL) and bridging.
He was most recently director at DAS Compliance Consulting for around six years. Before that, he was the head of compliance at MQube for around a year.
Squires will report to Amir Firdaus, Offa’s CFO.
Malik said: “These senior appointments are part of our strategy of focusing on the quality of our service along with the speed. Offa has just successfully expanded into the BTL space, and our growing top-class team will help us bring further innovative Islamic finance offerings in the coming months and years.”
Firdaus added: “I am delighted to have Dominic joining our team. We value his significant industry experience, which will result in a better Islamic property finance service for our customers across the UK and beyond.”
Sajad said: “I am passionate about bringing faith-based financial solutions to those who wish to have access to inclusive and ethical financial products. Joining Offa gives… me the opportunity to work with some of the top Islamic finance leaders in the country in a company whose cultural and faith-based values resonate with my own.”
Haleem said: “I have joined Offa firstly to help bring innovation to the Islamic finance industry via its ground-breaking products and platform, and secondly to challenge myself in a fantastic new opportunity for personal growth. I am proud to be part of this team, which is led by some of the pioneers and leaders of Islamic finance in the UK.”
Squires noted: “I am keen to take on the challenge of this role, especially because of Offa’s unique Islamic finance proposition and to help the team succeed with our current and future offerings.”
The Islamic finance firm recently brought out paperless BTL finance.
In an interview with Mortgage Solutions earlier this month, Malik said he wanted to see more mortgage networks be comfortable with applying for permissions to advise on home purchase plans.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
