Rostro Group sees UAE as ideal launchpad for regional fintech expansion

Roger Hambury, Owner and Founder, Rostro Group, explains why the UAE as a convergent point of capital, talent and vision ticks all the boxes as a perfect base for regional expansion for the premier global fintech service brand

■ You’ve built Rostro Group on the belief that billions of potential investors remain underserved, how are you using technology to rewrite that narrative and create real financial inclusion at scale?

At Rostro, we believe market access shouldn’t be a privilege – it should be a right for all. We have tackled that with a technology-first approach, building an ecosystem from the ground up, meaning we’re not encumbered by the challenge of legacy software that hampers progress for many in the sector.

The result is a solution that can scale readily across geographies and regulatory frameworks, all backed off by our highly talented team. Decades of knowledge and experience, a global network of offices and the fact that we know the importance of providing localised, bespoke solutions ensures that as a business we can remove roadblocks, ensuring investing is open to all.

■ Rostro’s vision is to be more than just a collection of services, it aims to be a unified financial ecosystem. What does that integration look like in practice, and how does it benefit your clients globally?

Integration at Rostro isn’t just operational – it’s strategic. We’ve built a connected infrastructure where brokerage, payments, and soon banking and asset management work seamlessly together. We want to offer our clients a fluid experience that enables them to invest and grow without friction, something that is complemented by our ownership of as much of the end-to-end process as possible – a tactic that is designed with optimisation of the customer experience very much at its core.

■ Why did you choose the UAE as a strategic base for Rostro’s expansion, and how has the region’s fintech-friendly infrastructure accelerated your growth and innovation?

You can’t escape the fact that the UAE is the market everyone is talking about today. The UAE is a convergent point of capital, talent and vision with regulatory foresight built on taking the best aspects of legislation globally.

The authorities are also willing to work with us – at pace – to get to the right outcome, all of which is supported by the region’s fintech forward mindset.

■ Culture is a powerful growth engine. How have you shaped an internal culture at Rostro that empowers teams to lead with integrity and innovate across diverse markets?

The culture point is important as we know that without great human capital, we cannot succeed as a business. With that in mind, we hire not just for skill but also for alignment with our mission.

We work on principles where we encourage people to take ownership and think outside the box to propose innovative solutions, congratulate effort as much as we applaud outcomes and maintain an open-door policy to keep the feedback loop running. This is the very essence of Rostro.

■ With Rostro now active in brokerage, banking, payments, and M&A, how do you ensure alignment and agility across such a diverse portfolio while staying true to your mission of financial accessibility?

Alignment starts with clarity of purpose. Every brand under the Rostro umbrella shares a common mission: to unlock access and engineer growth. It’s important to split out two points here.

We are building Rostro to be the investment bank of the future, with an end-to-end ecosystem approach. That in turn provides the platform which helps facilitate the mission of financial accessibility for all.

Making our systems frictionless is vital in ensuring that clients will want to interact with us.

■ Tell us about the Rostro Foundation, what inspired your focus on supporting children and families in medical crisis, and how does this mission align with your broader impact goals?

We believe that it is every child’s unequivocal right to get the medical attention they need, when they need it. We know that the world is unjust but the foundation is committed to doing as much as it can wherever we operate as a business to help advance this aim.

We want to stand besides families when they are at their most vulnerable – with fast, meaningful assistance. As a group, we build financial ecosystems that empower growth.

The Foundation extends that same principle – empowerment – to the most human level, enabling us to leave a legacy of compassion, not just capital.

■ As a legacy-builder and visionary in the FX and derivatives space, what are the most important leadership lessons you’ve learned, and how are you embedding them into Rostro’s future DNA?

The most valuable leadership lesson I’ve learned is that growth follows clarity – of vision, of values and of purpose. In this industry, speed often overshadows substance. At Rostro, we’re building something different; a long-term platform of innovation, trust, and adaptability, framed by empathy.