Talal Yassine
Talal Yassine is a Lebanese Australian businessman. He is the founder and managing director of Salaam, Australia's first Islamic wealth management company, that launched the country's first Islamic superannuation fund, the Salaam Wealth Funds Management Pty Ltd, and the country's first Islamic stock market index, the Thomson Reuters Crescent Wealth Islamic Australia index. He holds an Honorary Professorial Fellowship at the Crawford School of Public Policy within the Australian National University College of Asia and the Pacific and serves as an adjunct professor in the School of Business at Western Sydney University.
Yassine served as Chairman of the Council for Australian-Arab Relations for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, a member of the board of DFAT's Australia Malaysia Institute, and a member of Australian Multicultural Council.
Early life and education
Yassine is the eldest of eight children of Lebanese Muslims Ali, a tobacco farmer, and Fatma Yassine from the rural north of Lebanon. He was four years old when his family migrated to the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia in 1977 to escape the war in their country of origin. His father worked in a factory while his mother looked after the six boys and two girls. Education was prioritised in the household, although neither parent was highly educated and the family struggled financially. All of the children are professionals and have about 30 degrees between them.Attending Granville Boys High School from 1984 to 1990, he dreamed of becoming a lawyer in the local community. He studied at the University of Sydney, then transferred to Macquarie University where he graduated with an arts degree and law degree. He holds a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney and a Master of Business Administration from Deakin University.
Career
Yassine started working at law firm Dunhill Madden Butler, which later merged with accounting company Price Waterhouse Coopers in 2000. Later, he entered politics by putting his name down for Australian Labour Party's preselection for the legislative seat of Auburn in 2001. ALP Premier Bob Carr, in his book, Run For Your Life, said that the party passed over Yassine amidst intense anti-Lebanese, anti-Muslim sentiments after a series of gang rape attacks were committed against women in Sydney by Lebanese Australian youths led by serial rapist Bilal Skaf a year before. Carr later characterised the decision as unfair and unjust to Yassine. However, Yassine stated in the ABC's RN interview that he was fortunate he did not push through with politics then as anti-Islamic rhetoric intensified when weeks after the 2001 election, the September 11 attacks occurred.Yassine worked in corporate finance and technical real estate divisions for investment bank and fund manager Babcock & Brown Ltd for two years and quit to work on other projects before the company collapsed in 2009. During the Global Financial Crisis in 2008/9 Talal, together with Ben Keneally, and Evan Thornley, co-founded the Australian division of the Israeli and Silicon Valley based electric car company, Better Place, and was responsible for the company's business development and strategic partnership. In mid-2011, he stepped back from the day-to-day management of the company while still holding financial interest. The company declared bankruptcy in 2013.
In 2017, Yassine was board secretary for The Co-op Bookshop, during which a student-led campaign unsuccessfully attempted to remove the board over accusations of corruption, mismanagement, substandard governance, and anti-democratic practices. In October 2016, the Co-op had entered into a consultancy agreement with Yassine Corporation Pty Limited. In the 2020 Voluntary Administrators’ Report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the consultancy agreement between the Co-op and Yassine Corporation Pty Limited involved payments of approximately A$726,000 per annum. The report stated that this amount was “in excess of the reasonable costs of obtaining these services from an arm’s length supplier” and described the agreement as “uncommercial.” PwC further noted that the execution of the agreement may constitute a breach of directors’ duty, and that because a relative of Talal Yassine was a director of the Co-op at the time, the agreement may also constitute an unreasonable director-related transaction under section 588FDA of the Corporations Act 2001.
Yassine is Executive Chairman of the family affiliated First Quay Capital and LandCorp Australia.
Yassine was a member of the boards of Sydney Ports, Sydney West Area Health Service, the New South Wales Casino Control Authority. He served as non-executive director on the board of Australian Postal Corporation since 2 August 2012 until August 2015. He was a member of the Council for Australian-Arab Relations for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for four years, serving as chairman for three years, a member of the board of DFAT's Australia Malaysia Institute, and a member of the Australian Multicultural Council.
Yassine is an adjunct Business School professor at the University of Western Sydney and serves as an honorary professorial fellow at Crawford School of Public Policy within The Australian National University. He was a board member of the Whitlam Institute as well as Macquarie University.
In 2025, Yassine launched Uncommon Ground, a fortnightly podcast featuring long-form interviews with prominent Australians in fields such as politics, business, sport, media, and civil society.
Islamic superannuation
Yassine founded Crescent Wealth, Australia's first Islamic wealth manager. In an interview by The Australian, he stated that after he failed to find investment products that would satisfy Islamic requirements, he established the company in partnership with US fund manager Saturna Capital to oversee international shares, with Sigma Funds to handle local shares portfolio, and with the Islamic finance subsidiary of HSBC Bank. In November 2010, it was granted the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's Australian Financial Services Licence. By 2011, it launched Crescent Australian Equity fund with $5.5 million of seed capital from Aon Hewitt targeting the retail market and self-managed superannuation funds in particular. Other financial products include the Crescent Islamic Cash Management Fund, the Crescent Diversified Property Fund, and Crescent International Equity Fund.The company also launched Crescent Wealth Superannuation Fund, the country's first Islamic superannuation fund, on 17 December 2012. Complying with Islamic guidelines, it does not invest in alcohol, gambling, pornography, weapons, pork, and financial stocks like banks due to a ban on interest charges. In February 2012, Crescent Wealth in partnership with Thomson Reuters launched the Thomson Reuters Crescent Wealth Islamic Australia index, Australia's first Islamic equities index.
In 2023, the Crescent Wealth Superannuation Fund, promoted by Crescent Wealth and overseen by Equity Trustees, failed the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority choice performance test. In addition, the fund reportedly charged higher fees for poorer returns and disclosed the costs to members in a way that was described as lacking transparency. Members of the fund were transferred in 2024 to the Salaam Superannuation Division of the Russell Investments Master Trust via a successor fund transfer. According to the significant event notice to members, the transfer occurred because “fees and costs that affect the return to members are not appropriate having regard to their financial interests” and “net returns for the product are not consistent with market rates.” The change effectively moved members into a fund structure not subject to the APRA performance test.
Recognition
Yassine received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2010 for his services to business, education, and multicultural community. He was promoted to Member of the Order of Australia in the 2024 King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to business, and to the community".Yassine received the Professional of the Year Award in 2012 from Australian Muslim Achievement Awards. He won the Man of the Year Award on the 2016 Australian Muslim Achievement Awards, with Crescent Wealth winning Business of the Year Award and Event of the Year Award. During the 24th Sir Syed Day organised by Aligarh Muslim University Alumni of Australia on 11 February 2017 he was given recognition for his outstanding contribution to the community. He was included in The Muslim 500: The World's 500 Most Influential Muslims in 2016, 2017 and 2018.