Muslim given top job at Cazenove

A public school Muslim is to run the Queen's stockbroker.

Naguib Kheraj, previously finance director of Barclays Bank, has been appointed chief executive of Cazenove, the blue-blooded broker owned by the Wall Street investment bank JP Morgan.

Mr Kheraj, 44, is the City's best known Muslim banker and will be taking control of the most prestigious firm in the Square Mile.

Educated at Dulwich College in south London and at Cambridge University, he is one of the highest of fliers in London banking, plays a senior role in the Ismaili community and is a senior adviser to the Muslim sect's billionaire leader, the Aga Khan, known in Britain for his horse racing interests.

Mr Kheraj has made no attempt to hide his religious beliefs and says being a Muslim has not held him back in the City.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, he said: "It is very important to me. In Ismaili doctrine we take a holistic view, not separating one part of our life from another. Being a Muslim has had no impact on my career but it would be difficult to judge whether it impacts on other Muslims. It is very difficult to bracket Muslims in the public perception.

"It is the same as saying all Christians are the same when there are clearly different interpretations, different practices. The Ismaili community is the most progressive and pluralistic of Muslim groups."

Mr Kheraj has previously raised eyebrows by saying some public perceptions equate all Muslims with al Qaeda terrorists. "The stereotypical view of Muslims is not very representative of all Muslims," he said today.

Born in London, he also spent much of his youth in East Africa, Switzerland, Pakistan and the Middle East.

He has been breaking records for much of his career in the City.

He joined Salomon Brothers in the Eighties and rose to become a managing director at the age of 28 before joining Robert Fleming and then being poached by Barclays where he rose to become finance director at only 39.

Mr Kheraj quit the Barclays board 18 months ago citing disillusionment with his job. However, he stayed on at a fee of £600,000 a month to mastermind Barclays' ultimately unsuccessful bid for the Dutch bank ABN Amro as well as to attract Far Eastern investors.

The decision to appoint Mr Kheraj surprised many in the City today, not least because the appointment by Cazenove's chairman David Mayhew ignored a clutch of internal candidates who between them are some of the City's biggest deal brokers.