Pakistani student wins President’s Award in Malaysia

Syed Faiq Najeeb from Karachi clinches President's Award for the 'Best Student of the Year'.

KUALA LUMPUR: A Pakistani student from Karachi, Syed Faiq Najeeb, has graduated with the highest CGPA at the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF), Malaysia and clinched the President’s Award for the academic year 2012-2013.

Faiq, son of Syed Najeeb Akhtar, received the President’s Award for the ‘Best Student of the Year’ for Masters in Islamic Finance (MIF) on October 5, on achieving 3.98 CGPA, the highest in the institution's history. In addition, he completed the 24-month programme in a record 16 months.

The President's Award was handed to him by the Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

Commenting on his achievement, Najeeb said, “I am grateful to Almighty Allah, family and friends for supporting me throughout this journey. Nonetheless, this award achievement is secondary, and my primary goal is to promote the Islamic financial system globally because to me it is a more resilient and reliable financial system."

Previously, Najeeb has a BA (Hons) in International Business Management from the University of Nottingham. He developed an interest in Islamic Finance when he was working as a research analyst in his undergraduate alma mater. Subsequently he was awarded the Bank Negara Malaysia Scholarship to pursue his MIF at INCEIF. Currently, Faiq works with KFH Research Limited as a research analyst with a portfolio of Islamic Finance.

INCEIF, set up by Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia), is the only university in the world that is dedicated to postgraduate study in Islamic Finance.