Abu Dhabi Financial Group, GFH appoint CEO for $100m Islamic finance firm

Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) and Bahrain’s GFH Financial Group have announced the establishment of a new Islamic finance firm and appointed a CEO.

ADCorp, which has been incorporated but is awaiting final regulatory approval, will be based in Abu Dhabi Global Market under a Category 5 Islamic financial institution licence.

It has been established with $100m of authorised capital and ADFG and GFH as founding shareholders.

The company will be lead by Talal Al Zain, who was most recently CEO of PineBridge Investments Middle East.

He has also held key roles at Bahrain’s sovereign wealth funds including CEO of Mumtalakat and managing director and co-head of placement and relationship management at Investcorp.

“Working with GFH Financial Group, we set out to establish a new, pioneering Islamic financial institution that can maximise and capture the ongoing growth in Islamic investment and finance globally,” said Jassim Alseddiqi, CEO of ADFG.

Al Zain said ADCorp would focus on corporate finance and wealth and asset management for institutions and ultra high net worth clients.