Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is a Danish investment bank specializing in online trading and investment. Established in 1992 as a brokerage firm under the name Midas Fondsmæglerselskab by Lars Seier Christensen and Kim Fournais, the company rebranded as Saxo Bank in 2001 upon obtaining its banking license. The bank provides access to a broad range of financial instruments, including Forex, stocks, CFDs, futures, funds, bonds, and futures spreads, through its proprietary online trading platforms.
Saxo Bank is headquartered in Copenhagen and operates through offices in financial centres such as London, Paris, Zürich, Dubai, Singapore, India, and Tokyo.
Saxo Bank A/S is privately owned. In December 2024, Geely Financials Denmark A/S, a subsidiary of the Chinese Geely Group, increased its holding to a 49.88% stake. In a press release from March 2025, Swiss bank J. Safra Sarasin announced the signing of an agreement for the acquisition of a 70% stake, purchasing all shares of Mandatum Group and Geely Financials Denmark A/S shares in Saxo Bank.
In 2023, Saxo Bank reported an operating income of DKK 4.48 billion and surpassed a milestone of one million clients worldwide. The bank's average daily trading turnover is estimated at US$17.7 billion.
History
1990s: Midas Fondsmæglerselskab
Lars Seier Christensen and Kim Fournais formed Midas Fondsmæglerselskab after meeting in London in the early 1990s. At the time, Christensen was a broker for Gerald Metals while Fournais worked at the now-defunct Lannung Bank. Both described their partnership as the meeting of business soulmates. The company's initial capital, as recounted by its founders, was approximately $80,000.When the company acquired its license, the periodical began publishing an article series on sidegadevekslererne, the bucket shops of Denmark, and included Midas. In the autumn of 1996, Danish businessman accused Midas of misleading him into making fictitious investments through its wealth management services, resulting in losses exceeding DKK 800,000 in a single month. These allegations prompted a criminal investigation by the Director of Public Prosecutions, but Midas was ultimately cleared of all charges.
2000s
In 1997, Midas introduced its first internet-based product: a currency trading platform called MITS, which was later replaced by SaxoTrader. The company rebranded as Saxo Bank, taking its name from the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, to avoid confusion with an international Nigerian bank also named Mida. In 2001, Saxo Bank obtained its banking license. During this period, the company expanded its online presence and relocated to new headquarters in the Copenhagen suburb of Gentofte.Saxo Bank began expanding its products and services in Europe in the early 2000s. In 2001, the bank launched its first white-label product in partnership with a Portuguese securities dealer. By September 2004, Saxo had introduced its first U.S. white-label product, and in 2006, it established a regional hub in Singapore.
In September 2007, Saxo Bank acquired its Swiss white-label client, Synthesis Bank. In May of the same year, it purchased the French brokerage Cambiste, later rebranded as Saxo Banque France. Following the launch of Citigroup's CitiFX Pro, an online foreign exchange trading platform developed by Saxo, in November 2008, the Bank would focus entirely on its institutional clients in the US. By 2009, the bank had opened new offices in Milan, Prague, and Dubai, bringing the total number of foreign sales offices to 13–14 by year-end, up from eight in the previous year.
The bank continued its growth through acquisitions and the creation of an asset management department In 2009, it acquired Sirius Kapitalforvaltning and purchased the full share capital of Capital Four Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A/S, along with a 51% stake in Global Evolution Fondsmaeglerselskab A/S.
2010s
In March 2010, Saxo Bank launched a new equity trading platform, enabling trades in over 11,000 stocks and other products listed on 23 major exchanges worldwide.By July 2010, Saxo Bank reported a 13-fold increase in net profit, rising from DKK 41 million to DKK 551 million. Over six months, the bank completed ten acquisitions and opened new IT development centers in India and Ukraine. Observers partly attributed this growth to a nearly 500% increase in trading turnover by Saxo Bank's largest partner, Citi, during the same period. The bank's half-year report confirmed these results, marking the first six months of 2010 as the most profitable period in its history.
In 2010, Saxo Bank also launched a new online platform in collaboration with Barclays Stockbrokers. Branded as "International Trader," it offered access to over 9,000 equities across 21 major global exchanges in 13 markets, along with securities research. The platform was actively promoted to the UK market, including Barclays' existing client base. In May 2011, Saxo Bank further announced a partnership with TD Waterhouse, the UK's leading execution-only broker, to provide an online derivatives trading platform for retail investors.
At the 2010 World Finance Foreign Exchange Awards, Saxo Bank was named "Best White Label Solution Provider," recognizing its long-standing focus on innovation in its white-label business. That same year, it also won the "Best Re-Labelling Platform" award from Profit & Loss magazine, based on a reader poll. According to Markit, Saxo Bank was the first financial institution to report its CFDs on Single Stock trades on a voluntary basis, in a bid to bring greater transparency to this fast growing market.
On 17 September 2010, Saxo Bank announced its plan to invest DKK 59 million in Brørup Sparekasse, a small Danish savings bank established in 1897 with seven branches. Following the investment, the bank was renamed Saxo Privatbank and began offering core banking services in Denmark. Brørup Sparekasse had faced significant financial difficulties in 2008 and 2009, primarily due to failed investments in unlisted bonds, which resulted in a pre-tax loss of DKK 74 million in 2009. Saxo Bank also committed to providing an additional capital contribution of at least DKK 150 million, contingent on the successful transformation of Brørup Sparekasse into a joint-stock company. Saxo Bank became the majority shareholder, holding 98.6% of the shares in the restructured institution. Saxo Privatbank operated branches in several Danish cities, including Brørup, Esbjerg, Fredericia, Hellerup, Kolding, Odense, Vejle and Århus. In April 2018, Alm. Brand Bank acquired Saxo Privatbank for DKK 360 million.
In January 2014, Saxo Bank introduced a beta version of a revised TradingFloor.com, repositioning a community portal as a multi-asset social trading platform that encouraged users to share information, tips, and strategies openly. According to the bank's founders, the platform aimed to improve accessibility to financial trading and serve those uninterested in direct interaction with bank representatives.
In May 2015, Saxo Bank launched SaxoTraderGO, a new multi-asset trading platform. In September 2015, Saxo Bank introduced OpenAPI, granting partners, clients, and external developers access to the bank's trading infrastructure for customization purposes. As of mid-2015, the platform featured over 30,000 financial products.
In early 2016, Saxo Bank launched SaxoSelect, a digital investment service that included portfolios built around iShares ETFs in cooperation with BlackRock, targeting long-term investors and managed based on BlackRock's research. Saxo Bank also introduced Trading Strategies, a copy trading service providing access to a range of strategies managed by various selected investors.
In 2017, Saxo operated in 18 countries, employed 1,600 people, and reported an operating revenue of DKK 2.9 billion in 2016.
On 2 October 2017, the Chinese carmaker Geely announced the plans to increase its stake in Saxo Bank to 51.5% if the deal were approved by regulators. Sampo Group was to acquire a 19.9% stake, while Kim Fournais, Saxo Bank's CEO, would retain his 25.7% stake. Those selling shares are Sinar Mas and TPG. The deal was completed in September 2018.
2020s
After abandoning a 2022 attempt to go public via a special purpose acquisition company at a targeted valuation of around €2 billion, Saxo later stated that a public listing was no longer on the immediate agenda, attributing the decision to unfavorable market conditions.On 4 July 2023, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority issued a report instructing Saxo to liquidate its cryptocurrency holdings, stating that maintaining these assets on the bank's own account exceeds the legal scope for Danish financial institutions. The FSA did not specify a timeline. A Saxo spokesperson noted that the company would review the regulator's requirements and respond accordingly.
In February 2023, Saxo Singapore signed a strategic partnership with Guotai Junan Securities, a major Chinese bank. In November 2023, it announced a strategic partnership with HSBC. In 2023, Saxo reported reaching an important milestone – 1 mln clients globally. However, the bank's financial indicators have weakened: it reported its first semi-annual loss in several years during the second half of 2023, and 2023 ended with a 8.1% decline in net profits.
In April 2024, S&P Global Ratings awarded Saxo Bank an A− rating. In July 2024, Saxo hired Goldman Sachs as a financial advisеr to seek new owners for the shares held by Geely and Mandatum. By late October 2024, it became known that three major firms—Altor Equity Partners, Centerbridge Partners, and Interactive Brokers—had expressed interest in acquiring the shares, with preliminary bids reportedly submitted.
Despite reporting a 43% increase in its client base in 2024 and introducing a simplified platform along with the AutoInvest ETF investment feature, Saxo's trading metrics continued to deteriorate. Monthly trading volumes fell to US$371.6 billion in June 2024 — down 4% from the previous month—and core FX volumes reached a multi-year low of US$78.1 billion. In September 2024, Saxo announced the closure of its Hong Kong and Shanghai offices, citing geopolitical factors. The bank disclosed US$4.3 million in losses for its Hong Kong operations in 2023 and began off-boarding local clients and partners.