Aaqib Mirza

Aaqib Mirza is a technology and financial services leader with over 25 years of experience at the intersection of banking infrastructure and capital markets. He holds a BSc in Computer Science from Imperial College London and an MSc in Business Systems Analysis and Design from City, University of London. His career has spanned senior technology and board-level roles at major institutions including Peel Hunt, KBC Financial Products and D.E. Shaw, where he served as Chief Technology Officer and board member, overseeing trading technology across equities, convertibles and derivatives.

Mirza is a founding director of RetailBook, the FCA-regulated platform he has helped build since its incorporation in 2022. As Co-CEO, he leads a business with a mission to democratise access to primary capital markets — enabling retail investors to participate in IPOs, follow-on placings and retail bond offerings on the same terms as institutional investors. RetailBook operates as an industry utility with strategic partnerships across Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, Interactive Investor, Jefferies and Rothschild & Co, and has provided retail access to several of the UK's largest recent IPOs including Applied Nutrition and Raspberry Pi.

Under Mirza's leadership, RetailBook expanded significantly in 2025 with the arrival of the former PrimaryBid Capital Markets team and a £4.5 million funding round led by Augmentum Fintech. The company has positioned itself as a key channel for retail inclusion in UK public markets at a time of major regulatory reform, with Mirza championing the view that retail investors are essential to improving market liquidity and function.