Financial services is the sector Rostrum knows best. We work with banks, building societies, lenders, insurers, payments businesses and the advisory firms around them, on the communications that build credibility with a small, sceptical, well-informed audience.
It is a harder brief than most. The products are complex, the claims are regulated, and the people you need to convince have heard every version of "trusted partner" already. Coverage volume does not move them. Being consistently visible, specific and useful does.
PR built around who actually needs to hear it
Most agencies still measure financial services PR in column inches, broadcasting a story as widely as possible and hoping the right person sees it. In this sector that is backwards. The people who matter are a small, identifiable group: the buying committee, the trade journalists they read, the analysts and advisers they trust.
We map who needs to hear the story first, then work out which coverage, which advocacy and which timing will actually reach them. That means treating PR as part of the same intelligence layer as sales and marketing, and timing visibility to the moments that matter: a renewal window, a bid process, a board conversation, a funding round.
Banking, lending and building societies
Retail and commercial finance brands live or die on trust, and trust is built in public over time. We have run integrated PR and brand programmes for Novuna, taken Yorkshire Building Society into the national conversation about savings, and helped Saffron for Intermediaries stand out in a mortgage intermediary market where most lenders sound identical.
Work in this part of the sector usually blends consumer-facing research, trade media relations with the titles brokers and intermediaries actually read, and thought leadership that gives spokespeople something worth saying.
Insurance and insurtech
The London Market rewards specialism and punishes generalists. We built market authority for Sequel Business Solutions in insurance technology, and helped Vitesse establish its brand across the London Insurance Market and the US.
Insurance communications tends to be a long game: technical credibility with the trade press first, then broader visibility once the proof points exist. We plan for that rather than promising national coverage in month one.
Payments and fintech
Fintech PR has an inflation problem. Everyone is disrupting something, and journalists have stopped listening. What still works is evidence: real transaction data, a genuine market insight, a named client willing to speak. We build fintech programmes around the proof rather than the positioning statement.
Private equity, advisory and professional services
For firms selling judgement rather than product, reputation is the entire offer. We reimagined the Phoenix Equity Partners brand around what founders actually want from an investor, amplified Kroll across a crowded risk and advisory landscape, and built market authority for Paul Hastings in London.
Working inside compliance, not around it
Every piece of this work passes through a compliance or legal review, and an agency that treats that as an obstacle will waste your time. We write to be approvable: claims evidenced, risk flagged early, spokespeople briefed on what they can and cannot say. Sign-off is part of the timeline, not a surprise at the end of it.
The same discipline applies to reactive commentary. When the FCA moves, a rate decision lands or a consultation opens, the firms that get quoted are the ones who prepared the position weeks earlier. We do that work in advance so the response is ready when the news is.
When something goes wrong
Financial services carries reputational risk that other sectors do not: outages, data incidents, regulatory findings, complaints that become stories. We provide calm, considered crisis management, and, more usefully, the planning and horizon scanning that means less goes wrong in the first place.
Getting found, not just covered
Buyers now research in search engines and AI answer engines before they ever speak to you. Earned media is what those systems read to decide whether you are credible. Our financial services PR programmes are built so the coverage, the thought leadership and the owned content reinforce each other, and so your firm shows up when someone asks an AI which agency, lender or insurer to shortlist.
What working with Rostrum looks like
A senior team who understand the sector, a proactive newsroom service rather than a monthly report, and PR that connects to content, social and design instead of running alongside them. If that is what you are looking for, we should talk.