Financial journalist Faisal Islam will join the BBC as its new business editor, effective from the New Year. Islam has been the political editor for Sky News since 2014..
The 41-year-old gained an Economics degree from Cambridge Univerisyt and then did a post-graduate Diploma in Newspaper Journalism from City University in London.
He served as an economic correspondent at The Observer and worked as Economic Editor for Channel 4 News before joining Sky News.
He has covered major stories such as the Icelandic banking crisis and Lehman Brothers fall from Wall Street. As a business journalist, he worked on trends in growing economies of the world including India and Singapore. He interviewed renowned personalities including political leaders and president of the World Bank.
Islam said: “It is a great honour to be taking up this crucial role at the BBC at this critical moment in the country’s economic history.
“Economics has been the heart of how I have viewed the rapid changes here and around the world over the past two decades – the best lens on the world. I am at heart a numbers man and I look forward to sharing the numbers stories that matter for all of the BBC’s viewers, listeners and readers over the years to come”.
Fran Unsworth, director news and current affairs at BBC, said Islam is a person with ‘serious economic and political pedigree’.
She added that she look forward to him being at the forefront of BBC’s reporting and presenting business, serving the medium from across all platforms in BBC News, documentaries, and BBC’s other land mark programmes.
