Scope Markets is rebranding and presenting a new logo, Finance Magnates has learned exclusively. “The motivation is to align our core foundational focus of building a multi-brand financial services group,” revealed Michael Ayres, CEO of Rostro Group, which includes Scope. Ayers added that the number of active clients increased by over 30% in 2024 while volumes grew by 150%.

Scope Markets Aims to “Democratize Access to Financial Markets”

Scope Markets has prepared a brand overhaul that aims to reflect the company's approach to offering clients more financial instruments and products. On one hand, Scope is focusing on “democratizing” access to investing, while on the other, it's adapting its current offering to the increasing number of clients, which, according to the company, has reached record levels.

As Ayres claims, the rebrand is the final step in completing the integration of Scope Markets into Rostro after its purchase in 2022, which comprises a regulated group of brokers with licenses held in Cyprus, Belize, Seychelles, South Africa, Kenya, and Mauritius.

“In line with our broader ambitions at Rostro to effect change in financial inclusion at a global level, we will be launching further enhancements to our internal product set and the wider customer experience,” commented Ayres.

What new features can clients expect? Some time ago, Scope Markets introduced unleveraged fractional stocks (executed as CFDs) via its Scope Invest account, providing exposure to 2,000 different stocks. The company is also implementing a new client onboarding system after expanding its in-house technology team.

“The rebrand ensures that the internal values we live by are also externally presented, both through our existing Scope Markets, Scope Prime and Rostro Group brands as well with the birth of additional commercial brands in 2025 and beyond,” Ayres added.

Finance Magnates sat down with Rostro's CEO to ask him about the latest rebranding, the Group's plans for the coming years, and how the industry is changing.

“We Have a Trading DNA as an Organization”

How does the rebranding reflect Scope Markets' expansion plans or target markets?

“We already serve clients in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, so our plan is really to deepen the extent of that coverage via these three core geographies. Our focus into 2025 is on capturing a greater market share within the regions where we are already well placed, building on the operational efforts and work carried out in 2023 and 2024, which has set a foundation for scalable and sustainable growth.”

Can you share any specific metrics or goals you hope to achieve this year and in 2025?

“2024 has seen active clients grow by 32% and ADV grow by 147%, with the business on track to reach our annual targets in December. We expect to see both acquisition and activation metrics improve by a factor of 50%, which will then be tested and iterated through our in-house onboarding system, with data-driven fine-tuning to ensure we are working toward this outcome.

“Our growth story so far has been pretty impressive, and especially given our strategic choice to look within and focus on the product and really narrow focus on a few large-scale key projects, rather than just create a wide net of initiatives and brand work with the assumption more is best.”

Since the beginning of 2023, Scope Markets has been part of the Rostro Group. Is the rebranding related to this acquisition? How has the Scope changed since then?

“Absolutely! We could have attempted this last year, with a quick and colourful change and quicker route to market, but that was not what we wanted to deliver. The moment now marks the start of a new chapter for the wider Rostro Group, which through organic growth and also acquisition targets, will continue expanding on our multi-brand multi-product business model.”

Can you elaborate on the fractional share CFD products launched a few months ago? How have your clients received them so far?

“This is just the start of a wide range of product rollouts that you will see. Our target markets in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, were only being partially served when it came to the fractional share offering and indeed when it came to getting cost-effective access to equity markets, so we moved quickly to provide this via our own market-making solution. Interest is gathering pace now, which will be fueled by this rebrand.”

Could you reveal which CFDs in Scope's offer are currently the most popular?

“The market is still seeing XAU as the most in-demand from both our retail and institutional clients, which is logical given the various economic and geopolitical factors driving the demand behind the haven product. From here we are seeing a diverse blend of US and EU indices, commodities and then G4 crosses, and most recently an increase in single stock activity in the likes of Tesla, Nvidia, Apple.”

What other product innovations can we expect from Scope Markets in the near future?

“We are launching a fully re-engineered onboarding solution, which provides a better experience for customers and essentially gets them to their goal of accessing our extensive range of markets quicker and easier. We have also built out our own client portal and back office for Scope Prime, which provides bespoke reporting to our broker, hedge fund, manager and regional bank customers.

“You will have also seen earlier in the year the launch of our partnership with IRESS for DMA equities , which will have some additional coverage and value adds coming in Q4, plus one other additional institutional platform before year-end.”

What makes Rostro different to the market? What do you have planned for the long term?

“We have a trading DNA as an organization. From our Founder, Roger Hambury, myself as CEO, our global executive team, and right the way through the spine of the business, we have a range of people who have sat on bank dealing desks, executed for hedge funds, provided seamless solutions for wealth managers, across equities, fixed income, rates, options, FX and cryptocurrencies . It means that we really grasp what the market is, and essentially that is the product we provide access to, via various channels and platforms.

“Long term, we want to deliver on our vision of ensuring the end client comes first. We know the market provides for dynamic changes in customer needs, so we are built to ensure we can be agile in adopting new products and services, but in a scalable and operationally efficient manner.”