Finseta plc (LON:FIN) Chief Executive Officer James Hickman caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss the company’s strong 2025 performance, driven by Dubai expansion, corporate client growth, and strategic platform developments.
Q1: James, the Dubai operation significantly outperformed initial expectations following regulatory approval in March of 2025. What factors have driven the strong early success and how do you plan to build on this momentum in 2026 and beyond?
A1: Since we were granted regulatory approval, we’ve integrated with the local banking system there. We have a very strong local banking partner that has enabled us to offer clients effectively exactly the same service that we offer here in the UK; multi-currency IBANs, direct participation in local banking rails.
Dubai as a region is growing very strongly, most people are aware of that. We’ve increased our sales headcount and we’ve very much focused on our go-to-market strategy of partnerships and partner-led client acquisition. This has performed very, very strongly, particularly around the Dubai property market.
There’s certainly a few things that our platform, through our development, has enabled us to do to really create a USP. One of those is something called manager’s cheques. In Dubai, many property transactions are completed using manager’s cheques, which is effectively like a banker’s draft. We are able to deliver those to our customers, very much part of our white glove service.
So, real USPs in the region that enable us to capitalise and grow very, very strongly. We anticipate in 2026 this to continue and as I say, we’ve invested heavily in the region, particularly with revenue generation salespeople, to really broaden out our client base and client offering.
Q2: With a 54% increase in revenue from corporate clients and their share of total revenue rising to 57%, this appears to be a high potential segment. How do you plan to capitalise further on that growth and what role will corporate clients play in the longer term strategy?
A2: Obviously, corporate clients are a very, very important part of our business. We’ve intentionally, and I’ve said in the past, very much have a split between our consumer or high net worth business to our corporate clients, and we maintain that split.
Having said that, a lot of the platform development that was done in 2024 and 2025 was geared more towards the corporate client base. I’m thinking specifically around certain developments like bespoke authorisation and mass payments, etc. So, that was very much aimed at the corporate segment. I think we’ve definitely proven the model in terms of platform-led approach that enables our corporate customers really to get a product that ultimately means they can replace their traditional banking rails with the Finseta multi-currency platform.
Ultimately, as businesses become more global and trade globally, the requirement for a multi-currency account is becoming more prevalent, that’s a trend we’re definitely seeing.
Q3: You were just talking there about new technology that was introduced in 2025 and 2024, bespoke in-house solutions included agency banking, alternative banking, and bespoke approvals. Can you just talk about the outcome of implementing those solutions and listening to customer needs?
A3: In terms of agency banking, very, very important for us and for our customers, actually. For example, it’s improved transaction times and ultimately payment times by over 60%. It allows our customers to pay directly and have paid directly to their own account in their own name. This very much suits mid to larger size corporates, and we’re definitely seeing that in our onboarding trends.
Ultimately it allows more control of the platform. As I mentioned, we’ve built bespoke authorisation and payment controls. Again, very much geared towards sort of mid-sized to larger corporates and ultimately, as I say, it can replace their transactional banking platform with the more multi-currency aspect of it.
So, a lot of our platform development in 2025 has been very much geared towards this and ultimately, it’s very much customer led. So, all of our development, we listen to our customers, what they want and what they require to do business more effectively. That’s very much what we’re building on, and ultimately appeals to not only our existing customers, but also potentially new customers as well.
Q4: Now, you’ve mentioned that you’ve significantly invested in 2025 to support long term growth, and cash levels reflected that. How do you view Finseta’s current capital position in the context of 2026 plans? What gives you confidence in a return to positive cash flow in H2?
A4: As part of the strategic direction of the business, we renegotiated the loan note and pushed that out further, which has given us more headroom. One thing I will say is obviously we’re aware that we are a relatively small business, we’re not chasing further regions at this point or further product.
We’re very much now going to make all of the investment that we made in 2025, make sure that that pays throughout 2026, which gives me the confidence that we return to cash generation, and we make sure that we sweat the assets that we built and sweat the products that we built during 2025 throughout 2026. We’re very much now focused on the revenue side of things rather than the product development side and of course, a lot of the costs incurred, particularly around regulatory setup, etc., are now done. So, those won’t reoccur in 2026.
Q5: Just to finish up with then, James, adjusted EBITDA was lower in ‘25 due to the planned investments and market decisions. You’ve laid the foundation for future performance. What are the key drivers that you expect to support a return to stronger profitability in operational leverages in the medium term?
A5: Obviously, critical is increased revenue, of course but ultimately, a lot of the efficiency that we’ve made with things like agency banking will make sure that we do return to profitability. Ultimately, a lot of the automation of the platform means that we’re not having to hire more and more people the more our transaction flow grows. So, we will achieve and are achieving economies of scale in terms of increased transactions and increased transaction size.
I think the particularly important is obviously the platform development, which is allowing us ultimately to scale the business without incurring increased overhead in terms of people. So that’s very, very important indeed. As well, as I mentioned, regional growth, particularly Dubai, leveraging what we’ve developed there to increase revenue, increase transactions throughout 2026 and beyond.
