30 Years Later – From Faxes to Fintech

This year marks 30 years since Oskar started his career in the City and Wall Street.  Here he reflects on three decades of watching financial capital markets, communications and investor relations evolve beyond recognition, as well as becoming an author on the side.

When I started out, the internet made strange noises through a modem, the fax machine was the height of connectivity, and “strategic communications” wasn’t yet a boardroom phrase. My very first client in comms advisory was something called “the internet” – helping launch AOL.com into Europe and convincing folk of the potential of the interblob – followed by my time at Citigate Dewe Rogerson during its heyday at the forefront of comms advisory and now we, as Broome Yasar, completing our 600th IR / corporate affairs appointment. It’s been an exciting and fruitful journey. Few of us could have imagined just how profoundly technology would go on to reshape how companies communicate, how markets move, and how leadership is defined.

Fast forward 30 years: the transformation (or should I say ‘revolution’ as per my book title – The Global IR Revolution) continues. Boards now take reputation and IR seriously, and those who don’t, need to. The new generation of comms and IR professionals are more strategic, data-driven, and ambitious than ever – they know reputation isn’t a “nice to have,” but a genuine driver of enterprise value.

And now, AI is the new frontier – as thrilling, disruptive, and full of potential as the internet once was. My advice years ago is the same now: don’t fear it; understand it, engage with it, and use it to move forward. AI won’t be taking over your role but someone who knows its machinations will!

We’ve seen a lot, predicted quite a bit because we’ve been eager to learn, and been surprised by plenty. But one thing hasn’t changed – progress is only ever limited by our own ambition. Here’s to the next chapter – continue to evolve, stay curious.

Oskar Yasar

Managing Partner