Saqib Malik

I read Mathematics and Computer Science at Imperial College and spent the quarter century that followed building and running systems inside banks and asset managers — Deutsche Bank, UBS, Commerzbank, UniCredit, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo Asset Management — in London, Zurich and Munich. Low-latency trading infrastructure, mostly: the plumbing beneath the markets rather than the markets themselves.

Alongside that I have built other things. In 2015 I approached Kopparberg, who produced a non-alcoholic version of their fruit cider for me to sell in Dubai. I then went to Stassen in Belgium, who made my own brand, Sicera, in two flavours: Strawberry & Lime, and Pear.

In 2025 I attained the Investment Advice Diploma (Securities) from the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), to add to my Islamic Finance Qualification (Merit) from the year before.

These days a good deal of my attention goes to the rooms I put together: private views, salon talks and supper evenings in London and, before long, the Gulf. I also collect contemporary art and write fiction. But most of all I am a father — simultaneously the most difficult and most rewarding job of all.