saxo bank . saxo bank a s type private industry brokerage firm banking trading investment fintech founded 1992 1992 headquarters copenhagen denmark key people lone f nss schr der chairman chairman henrik normann vice chairman kim fournais ceo & founder lars seier christensen founder products investment banking trading platforms online trading and investment revenue dkk 3 006.8 million 2014 net income dkk 381.2 million 2014 number of employees 1 456 dec. 2014 website www.saxobank.com saxo bank is a danish investment bank specializing in online trading and investment . it was founded as a brokerage firm in 1992 under the name midas fondsm glerselskab by lars seier christensen kim fournais and marc hauschildt . 1 the name was changed to saxo when the company obtained a banking license in 2001 . saxo offers trading through its online platforms in forex stocks cfds futures funds bonds and futures spreads . 2 the company functions as an online broker with a bank license without offering traditional banking products . according to saxo roughly half of its activities are derived from partnerships with institutional trading partners . more than 100 financial institutions globally service their end clients with saxo bank s platforms on white label basis 3 saxo bank is headquartered in copenhagen but also has offices in financial centres such as london paris zurich dubai singapore and tokyo . according to the bank it has clients in 180 countries 3 and has a daily average turnover of approximately usd 12 billion 4 saxo bank is known for its success in online trading and investment and has received a number of awards . domestically the bank is also known for its two founders who are often outspoken on danish politics . revenue reached dkk 3 006 million in 2014 delivering a net income of dkk 381.2 million . saxo bank has launched several white label partnerships with banks such as standard bank old mutual wealth banco carregosa and banco best 5 contents 1 ownership 2 business model 3 history 3.1 1990s midas fondsm glerselskab 3.2 2000s name change and banking license 3.3 global expansion and acquisitions 3.4 2010 growth 3.5 transparency inititatives 3.6 saxo privatbank 3.7 tradingfloor.com and social trading 3.8 saxotradergo and openapi 3.9 saxoselect 3.10 controversy following swiss franc cap removal 4 corporate headquarters and architecture 5 public relations 5.1 sponsorships 5.2 allegations of misconduct and subsequent acquittal 5.2.1 completion of fsa review and independent investigation 5.2.2 criticism of the danish fsa 6 awards 7 see also 8 references 9 external links ownership edit saxo bank is privately held with co founders kim fournais and lars seier christensen holding majority stakes . global growth equity firm general atlantic bought a minority stake in june 2005 for which the ceos received more than 30 million each . 6 this minority stake was later bought by tpg capital in 2011 valuing the bank at around dkk 9.6 billion . 7 according to the bank s website the co founders kim fournais and lars seier christensen each own 25.71 % of the bank s shares while tpg capital owns 29.26 % of the shares . the remaining shares are held by minority shareholders including sinar mas group with 9.9 % ownership and a number of current and former employees of the bank . 8 business model edit saxo bank describes itself as a facilator in financial markets . 9 for trading in listed equities liquidity is provided through connectivity to the world s major stock exchanges . for online margin trading in non listed products the bank obtains liquidity from more than 15 large banks . through its trading platforms both retail and institutional clients have access to a range of financial instruments 215 fx crosses 126 tradable as fx forwards 45 fx options 11 ndfs 7 600 cfd stocks 24 cfd indices and 34 cfd commodities 18 400 stocks etfs and etcs 230 contract futures 640 stock options 167 contract options . 10 saxo bank services both retail clients and institutional clients such as banks brokers fund managers money managers family offices and private banks 11 history edit 1990s midas fondsm glerselskab edit lars seier christensen and kim fournais formed midas fondsm glerselskab after meeting in london in the early 1990s . christensen was working as a broker for gerald metals at the time while fournais worked at the now defunct lannung bank . the two said that they both felt like they had found their business soul mate . 12 when the company acquired its license the periodical konomisk ugebrev economic weekly began publishing an article series on sidegadevekslererne the bucket shops of denmark and included midas . 13 14 15 during the autumn of 1996 well known danish business man karsten ree claimed he had been cheated by midas into making fictive investments via their wealth management services suffering losses in excess of dkk 800 000 in one month . 16 the company subsequently underwent a criminal investigation by the director of public prosecutions but was cleared of all charges . 13 2000s name change and banking license edit saxo bank hq in hellerup denmark in 1997 midas launched its first internet product ; a trading platform for currencies called mits later replaced by saxotrader . the company renamed to saxo bank named after the danish saxo grammaticus because there was already a nigerian bank called mida operating at an international level . saxo obtained its new banking license in 2001 began expanding its online presence and moved to new headquarters in the copenhagen suburb of gentofte . global expansion and acquisitions edit saxo bank launched its products and services in europe during the early 2000s . in 2001 its first white label solution was launched with a portuguese securities dealer . 17 in september 2004 it also launched its first us white label solution . following the launch of citigroup s citifx pro an online foreign exchange trading platform developed by saxo in november 2008 18 the bank would focus entirely on its institutional clients in the us . 19 in september 2007 saxo announced the acquisition of its swiss white label client synthesis bank . in late may saxo bought a french brokerage cambiste that was later renamed saxo banque france . during 2009 saxo opened offices in milan prague and dubai . by year end saxo bank had around 13 14 foreign sales offices up from eight the year before . 20 saxo has since been growing through add on acquisitions and startups and has built an asset management department saxo asset management legally segregated from the rest of the bank through acquisitions . in 2009 saxo acquired sirius kapitalforvaltning and in june 2009 it purchased the full share capital of capital four management fondsmaeglerselskab a s and 51 % of the share capital of global evolution fondsmaeglerselskab a s providing expertise for danish bond & equity instruments . 2010 growth edit in march 2010 saxo bank launched a new equity platform able to trade in over 11 000 stocks and other products listed on 23 major exchanges worldwide . 21 saxo bank was later named the best white label solution provider in the world at the world finance foreign exchange awards 2010 citing the bank s long established program of investment and innovation within its white label business . 22 23 in the same month the bank was also awarded best re labelling platform for 2010 by industry magazine profit & loss . saxo was voted into the top spot by subscribers to represent reader s choice . 24 in july 2010 ceo kim fournais stated that the bank s 2009 turnover of dkk 70 billion on a daily basis had been broken despite negative press at the start of the year . 25 the growth is believed partly to spring from an explosive growth in saxo bank s largest partner citi whose turnover resulting from trading grew nearly 500 % in the first 6 months of 2010 . in august 2010 the bank s half year results revealed that net profit had indeed increased 13 fold from dkk 41 million to dkk 551 million making the first six months of 2010 better than any other full year in saxo bank s history . 26 in its 2010 results saxo bank proved to have grown way beyond industry averages with profits trebling compared to 2009 but it also revealed that it had launched another online platform this time with barclays stockbrokers ltd. to supply their uk client base with an international equities solution . the solution which goes under the name international trader encompasses over 9 000 equities 21 major global exchanges in 13 international markets and an equities research solution . the release were already being marketed widely in the uk marketplace as well as to barclays existing uk clients base . 27 in may 2011 saxo bank furthermore announced it would provide td waterhouse the uk s leading execution only broker with an online derivatives trading platform for retail investors . 28 transparency inititatives edit 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 . 29 the bank also launched fx open orders module on tradingfloor.com . the forex open orders module provides a snapshot of saxo bank clients aggregated fx open orders on 10 major currency pairs allowing users access to the historical order book across and within currency pairs . the module makes it possible to search for concentrations of orders that might result in support resistance or break out points 30 in september 2013 the bank decided to publish its monthly and daily average trading volumes . saxo bank is the first non public bank or brokerage to publish these figures 31 finally the bank publishes live and historic spreads across price plans saxo privatbank edit on 17 september 2010 saxo bank announced plans to invest dkk 59 million in brorup sparekasse ; a small danish savings bank founded in 1897 with seven branches which was renamed to saxo privatbank offering core banking services in denmark . 32 the bank also said that it intended to offer at least dkk 150 million more in capital contribution when the terms for transforming the brorup sparekasse into a joint stock company were fulfilled . brorup sparekasse ran into difficulties in 2008 and 2009 primarily due to failed speculation in unlisted bonds which led to 2009 negative revenue of dkk 74 million before tax . 33 34 saxo bank later announced that the terms for transforming brorup sparekasse into a joint stock company were fulfilled with saxo bank as the largest shareholder owning 98 6 % 35 today saxo privatbank has brances in the danish cities br rup esbjerg fredericia hellerup kolding odense vejle and rhus . tradingfloor.com and social trading edit in january 2014 saxo bank launched a beta version of a transformed tradingfloor.com a community portal re launched into the first multi asset social trading platform . the site encourages users to share information tips and strategies publicly . the bank s founders said they want the site to make financial trading easily accessible to all and serve those who do not wish to engage with salespeople at banks . we want to set free the peer to peer power of traders around the globe they said in a joint statement . 36 the new tradingfloor.com is designed for serious private investors trading with their own money but it can also be used by those wishing simply to follow financial markets . the social trading platform features a range of content for traders such as market news and views data insights and trade ideas from saxo bank s research teams and vip authors . a real time trade stream reveals the current market sentiment . saxotradergo and openapi edit saxotradergo trading platform in may 2015 saxo bank launched a