Many investing platforms are structurally designed to reward activity rather than discipline, argues the co-founder and group CEO of Finvasia Group, Tajinder Virk
Co-founder and group CEO of Finvasia Group, Tajinder Virk, speaking to Gulf Business.
Retail investing has never been more accessible, yet for millions of individual investors, outcomes have rarely felt more uncertain.
As trading platforms proliferate and financial markets become increasingly complex, questions are emerging about whether the modern brokerage model is truly aligned with the long-term interests of investors.
Tajinder Virk has seen both sides of that equation. A former Wall Street hedge fund strategist who managed multi-billion-dollar portfolios, and now co-founder and group CEO of Finvasia Group, Virk has built regulated, technology-led businesses across fintech, healthtech, real estate and digital infrastructure, with operations spanning Europe, India, Africa, North America, Australia and the GCC.
Speaking to Gulf Business, Virk argues that many investing platforms are structurally designed to reward activity rather than discipline, creating conflicts of interest that undermine long-term wealth creation. He believes the solution is not another sleek interface, but a fundamental rethink of how brokerage and investing infrastructure is built, regulated and incentivised.
In this interview, Virk discusses why most retail investors lose money, how leverage and complex instruments have distorted capital markets, why regulation can act as an enabler rather than a constraint, and why the UAE is emerging as a critical hub for the next phase of global investing.
Without revealing too much, Virk said his company will be launching a new platform soon which is designed to make international markets accessible to investors worldwide. A waitlist for the app is now live: https://earlyaccess.dealing.com/?ref=pure-wind-1um9
You can watch the full interview below:
An edited version of the transcript of the interview is also posted below.
You’ve had a long career across Wall Street and entrepreneurship. Can you start by giving us some background on yourself and Finvasia Group?
I started my career on Wall Street, mostly on the buy side, managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios for hedge funds and banks. After that, I moved to India to expand businesses and eventually to build our own ventures.
Over the years, Finvasia has expanded into multiple verticals — financial services, payments, banking, brokerage, healthcare, real estate, and technology. We believe health and wealth are the two most important things in anyone’s life, which is why our businesses span both.
Finvasia has built a sizeable fintech and investment footprint internationally. How would you describe the scale of the group today?
Finvasia is a holding group with multiple operating brands. Within brokerage, we own Shunya, which is one of the largest brokers in India. We also own ZuluTrade, one of the world’s largest copy-trading platforms.
We operate a digital banking or neo-banking platform in India, payments and EMI businesses in Europe, and regulated entities in Mauritius, Canada, Bahrain, and now the UAE. We’re also active in blockchain-related infrastructure, regulated by AUSTRAC in Australia, and are in the process of securing additional licences, including with VARA here in the UAE.
Across all of this, our focus is on areas where technology can genuinely improve financial services.
Why has the UAE become such a priority market for Finvasia’s next phase of expansion?
We recently obtained an ESCA licence through our investment bank in Mauritius, which allows us to expand our investment banking services into the UAE. One of our sister entities has also applied for a VARA licence.
The UAE is a global melting pot. It’s not just about capital flowing into the country, but the diversity of people, experience, and ideas that converge here and then spread globally.
I first came to the UAE in 1996, when City Centre Mall was the biggest mall in Dubai. I’ve seen Dubai then and I see it today — what has happened here is unprecedented. Ten years ago, people asked whether you had an office in the UAE. Today, if you don’t, people question how serious you are.
You’ve spoken about a disconnect between how trading platforms make money and what’s actually good for investors. What do you mean by that?
Let me explain with a personal example. When I was doing my MBA in finance, my goal was to become a hedge fund manager. To understand markets, I opened a retail trading account. On days when I made money, I felt financially independent. On days when I lost money, I felt I should stop trading altogether before I lost both my money and my degree.
Later, when I managed institutional money, my manager once told me: your job is not to make extraordinary returns — your job is to not lose money. You’ll get more calls from investors if you lose 2 per cent than if you make 20 per cent.
Professional investing is disciplined and boring, much like aviation. Everything follows protocol. But retail trading apps celebrate activity — badges, confetti, gamification. That’s where the disconnect begins.
There are around 55,000 listed stocks globally, yet hundreds of thousands of salespeople pushing millions of derivative products. Someone has to pay for that ecosystem — and it’s the retail investor.
Derivatives are mathematically a zero-sum game. Even before fees, the probability of making money is 50 per cent. Once you factor in commissions, spreads, and friction, the odds fall further. It’s not very different from a casino.
Published data from ESMA shows that around 80 per cent of retail investors in Europe lose money. That’s tens of millions of people losing billions of dollars every year.
So in effect, the retail investor is paying for the system?
That’s what it looks like.
Do you think many platforms encourage activity over discipline?
Yes. Think of joining a gym that gets paid every time you injure yourself — the incentives are misaligned.
Encouraging excessive trading, particularly in leveraged products, is dangerous. Every major financial crisis — from 1929 through to 2007 — has been driven by leverage.
Even when regulators try to limit leverage, brokers often find ways around it through margin funding. That’s where the conflict of interest becomes structural.
Has the market become oversaturated with instruments?
Absolutely. Most investors struggle to name even ten different investment instruments, yet many platforms sell complex products without investors fully understanding the risks.
Even highly sophisticated professionals have failed using derivatives. If experienced mathematicians can lose everything, it raises the question of why retail investors are encouraged to trade these products.
You’ve said brokerage platforms need to be rebuilt from scratch. What does that mean in practice?
Trading isn’t just clicking a button. There’s an entire infrastructure behind every trade: exchanges, clearing, custody, settlement, and compliance.
Most platforms innovate only at the UI level. We believe the entire stack needs to be re-engineered: infrastructure, regulation, incentives, and technology.
We’re engineers, not artists. Our objective is to remove conflicts of interest and rebuild capital markets with a different north star, not average revenue per user, but long-term investor outcomes.
Regulation is often said to lag innovation. How do you view that balance?
Regulation is essential, especially in areas as emotional as money and health. The issue isn’t regulation itself, but how it’s interpreted and enforced. Good regulation protects people without killing innovation. People spend most of their waking lives earning money. That vulnerability must be protected from exploitation.
As Finvasia prepares to launch in the UAE, what does success look like over the next five to ten years?
Success is creating an ecosystem where investors have more money year over year, where incentives are aligned, and where the industry recognises there is a better and fairer way to operate.
Finally, without revealing too much, what problem are you most determined to solve?
Conflict of interest.Brokerage is fundamentally about access, and that access should be inclusive, global, and free from hidden incentives. We want to build something broader, fairer, and structurally different from what exists today.
