As an experienced board leader and fintech executive, Amir Tabch leveraged his deep expertise in regulatory compliance to establish the UAE’s first regulated DeFi and digital asset brokerage—a groundbreaking milestone achieved in 2021. With over two decades of global financial market experience, Mr. Amir has consistently been at the forefront of innovation, reshaping the UAE’s financial sector. Renowned for his visionary leadership, he continues to drive transformative change, setting new benchmarks for the region’s financial ecosystem.
Evolution as a Leader
Initially, Amir believed in traditional leadership centered on control and authority. Over time, his views evolved, drawing inspiration from world-renowned leaders like Steve Jobs and Nelson Mandela. Steve Jobs’s approach to fostering a culture of collaboration and creativity, maintaining a strong vision, and challenging norms deeply influenced Amir. Similarly, Mandela’s leadership from behind inspired him to value understanding, support, and empathy as core leadership principles.
Under the mentorship of the late Jack Welch, former CEO and Chairman of GE (General Electric), Amir mastered the art of accountability and informed decision-making. He also recognized that building strong, transparent, and results-oriented teams should always be a top priority for business success. These experiences, coupled with insights from global leaders, have shaped Amir’s unique leadership style—one that is driven, empathetic, and adaptive.
The Backstory Behind His Intrapreneurial Journey
His revolutionary influence in the FinTech landscape is better described as intrapreneurial, and it was significantly driven by his objective of giving UAE its first regulated DeFi (Decentralized Finance) and digital asset brokerage. In his journey, from the beginning, he didn’t focus only on launching a startup or a business. Amir’s vision was to build a future in the finance industry, always overlapping between regulation and innovation.
A vocal advocate for creating groundbreaking, out-of-the-box solutions, Amir has consistently championed ideas that push boundaries. Navigating the complex and fast-evolving FinTech landscape posed immense challenges, particularly in establishing a transformative model in an industry often clouded by skepticism. For Amir, introducing regulated DeFi brokerage was a mission to give a new meaning to reliability, transparency, and trust by interweaving innovation and regulation.
Modifying Business Strategies
Amir focused on three strategies.
- Amir’s team redefined the operations of digital asset brokerages by establishing a globally replicated, regulated, and compliant model. It helped to create a new standard in the finance industry.
- The team altered the customer acquisition strategy by seeking collaborations with prime stakeholders, driving market reliability and immense growth.
- Finally, Amir believed that creating and practicing a culture of constant improvement and aligning the business goals and strategies with evolving technologies, tools, and regulatory policies were necessary to adapt to industry shifts and maintain a competitive advantage.
Challenges: Shifting into the FinTech Industry
When Amir transitioned to a CEO role in the FinTech sector, his goal was to stay at the forefront of the ever-evolving digital landscape—a commitment that continually fueled his drive for excellence. Recognizing the critical need for incorporating high-tech solutions to enable future growth and development, Amir envisioned FinTech as the ideal platform to channel his expertise and skills. With a relentless focus on innovation, he sought to push boundaries and redefine what’s possible in the financial industry.
However, his transition into the FinTech sector was not without challenges. Getting adapted to a complex, fast-evolving landscape with ever-changing regulations and rules and embracing new technological innovations with customer demands, Amir Tabch has come a long way in a short span. Amir has often revealed that the initial days’ challenges and struggles stimulated him to reinforce his belief in his leadership approach and his determination to learn and commit to innovation.
How did Amir Navigated Through the Challenges?
Establishing a regulated DeFi and digital asset brokerage in the UAE came with its fair share of intricacies. The first challenge was balancing the dynamic pace of technological innovation with the structured framework of regulatory policies and approvals. To navigate this complexity, Mr. Amir leveraged his 20-year experience in global regulatory financial services. His core team collaborated closely with the country’s regulators, aligning technological advancements with compliance standards. This proactive approach turned challenges into opportunities, paving the way for innovation within a compliant framework.
Identifying and engaging the right talent was another key issue. While creating the transformative model for the UAE, Mr. Amir was adamant about building a team that not only matched the skills but also shared common passion, attitude, and resilience to work towards unmapped territories and projects. With this approach, Amir focused on creating a team by promoting adaptability and ownership. Finally, uncertainty and doubtfulness predominated, externally and internally. From the first, Mr. Amir practiced a transparent approach based on his experience, education, and competence, transforming skepticism into clear visions. The challenges strengthened Amir’s leadership approach to resolving problems and leading with trust, innovation, and purpose.
Strategic Shifts in 2024
In 2024, I transitioned from the world of brokerage to pioneering digital asset custody, and this is not clear here at all. He focused not just on technological innovation but re-defining strategies by realigning DeFi and digital asset brokerages with market demands, compliances, and technology. One of the key transitions was conceiving custody solutions from a new perspective. The second strategic shift was cross-industry collaboration. Amir focused on adopting practices from sectors like logistics and gaming into the digital asset space to solve complex issues. The approach helped Amir to address efficiency, user experience, and scalability. Finally, he prioritized execution and agility in the ever-changing sector.
Conclusion
Amir has been staying ahead of the competition by fostering a culture of continuous learning and comprehending a mindset of persistence and stern execution. To maintain his edge, Amir believes in experimentation and embraces the possibility of failure. He strongly believes that true innovation emerges from challenging conventional thinking and reimagining possibilities within the framework of compliance. As the UAE experiences a FinTech revolution, Amir is driving this transformation with his visionary and strategic mentorship.