About Us

Operator-led advisory for AI-ready trading technology. 

FINOV8 is the consulting and advisory company of Abdullah Hiyatt, supporting capital markets firms, fintechs, investors and consultancy partners with strategy, architecture, product design, prototyping, AI readiness and commissioned delivery work.

The firm exists for the difficult middle ground where trading expertise, technology architecture, data, AI, regulation and delivery reality need to come together properly.

Capital markets technology change has a reality problem.

Trading firms do not fail to modernise because they lack ambition. They fail because the real constraints are usually buried in workflows, data quality, vendor dependencies, operating models, control boundaries and delivery politics.

AI has made that problem sharper. It creates new opportunities, but it also exposes weak foundations very quickly.

FINOV8 was created to help clients move from broad ambition to controlled, practical execution. The work is grounded in market experience, architecture discipline and a clear understanding of how trading technology actually behaves once it meets real users, real data and real regulation.

Founder, operator, advisor and trading technology specialist.

FINOV8 is led by Abdullah Hiyatt, a capital markets trading technology specialist with more than 25 years of experience across buy-side, sell-side, venues, fintech, market infrastructure and consulting.

Abdullah has built trading platforms, led global front-office transformation programmes, advised major financial institutions, supported technical due diligence, shaped fintech propositions and founded capital markets technology ventures.

His work typically sits at the intersection of business strategy, platform architecture, product design, AI/data strategy, trading workflows, regulatory expectations and delivery execution.

That combination matters because the most expensive problems in capital markets technology rarely sit neatly in one box. They sit between the boxes. That is usually where FINOV8 operates.

Built, advised, reviewed and delivered across the trading technology landscape.

FINOV8’s perspective is shaped by hands-on experience across different sides of the market.

Clear thinking. Practical architecture. Evidence over theatre.

FINOV8 is built around a simple view: strategic technology work should survive contact with reality.

That means: 

Advisory and commissioned work for firms that need senior judgement quickly.

FINOV8 works with:

• Capital markets firms modernising trading technology and execution workflows
• Fintechs shaping propositions, platforms, products and architecture
• Investors assessing technology, platform readiness and execution risk
• Consultancy partners needing senior capital markets expertise
• Leadership teams exploring AI readiness, governance, prototyping and implementation

Engagements typically include diagnostics, teardown sprints, architecture reviews, product design, prototypes, technical due diligence, fractional leadership and commissioned advisory work.

A clear ecosystem.

FINOV8 is Abdullah’s consulting, advisory and commissioned-work company.

Avarrai is a separate product company building AI-enabled trading technology for institutional markets.

Blackstream is Avarrai’s first product concept, focused on fixed-income execution intelligence.

FINOV8 Signals is the thought-leadership and market-insight platform, publishing practical perspectives on trading technology, AI readiness, market structure, execution intelligence, data strategy and operational resilience.

Together, they reflect the same underlying point of view that capital markets trading technology needs better intelligence, stronger control and more practical execution.