Why Long-Term Thinking Beats Market Noise | Profiling UK Public Leaders

Profiling UK Public Leaders, Episode 9

Dr Marko Sjoblom listed Fiinu on AIM in 2022, in what he calls the worst of markets, and relisted it this August via a reverse takeover. A fintech focused on financial inclusion sits in a sector where sentiment swings hard: when the challenger banks were raising freely, a banking licence alone made you a success story, and by the time Fiinu arrived, a pre-revenue bank was nobody's flavour of the month. Same company, different mood.

That experience underpins the best advice he says he has received: stick to your guns. Building a bank took over five years of regulatory process. Nothing on that timescale can be steered by a market that reprices you every second, so the strategy cannot be allowed to waffle with it. He checks the share price daily, admits the down days sting, and manages it by anchoring himself and his team to a three-year target rather than the tape.

The double edge of sticky hands

Around 80% of Fiinu's register sits with long-term holders who know the company well. Marko values that stability, and is honest about its cost. If only a fraction of the remaining stock actually trades, a small number of trades moves the price a long way. That volatility is the price of a loyal register.

It also shapes his week. When the share price falls, newer investors call wanting an explanation. When it rises, nobody calls. He takes the calls anyway, and has never refused a conversation with someone wanting to understand the company, on the principle that a public company CEO cannot hide anyway.

Reading between the sentences

The most practical thread in the conversation is about RNS language. Announcements are factual to the point of being boring, and every sentence has been through scrutiny. Professional analysts know how to read them. Retail investors often do not. The company cannot change how announcements must be written, so the answer is supplementing them with context, and Fiinu is now weighing quarterly reporting so investors can see progress rather than infer it.

Where he draws the line

The worst advice Marko received was to pay close attention to the investor forums discussing his stock. He looked, and concluded that forming strategy from forum sentiment is a rabbit hole. His distinction is between openness and steering: take every call, publish more context, meet investors wherever they are, but do not let the loudest online voices write the plan.

He is candid that the job can be lonely, that there is no guidebook, and that the peers who have done it before are the best source of help. His response is to give his time the way others gave theirs to him.