Saxo Bank to Maintain its Operational Presence in Cyprus

Saxo Bank to Maintain Its Operational Presence in Cyprus

Monday, 22/06/2015 | 12:01 GMT by Victor Golovtchenko

The Danish multi-asset brokerage confirmed to Finance Magnates that it will continue relying on its operational base on the island

Saxo Bank to Maintain Its Operational Presence in Cyprus — Mateo Cassina, Former CEO of Saxo Capital Markets

One of the pioneers in multi-asset trading, Saxo Bank, has recently announced that it will be parting with its MT4 business which was offered through the Danish bank’s Cyprus regulated subsidiary. A couple of weeks later the firm renounced its CySEC license.

In Saxo Bank’s rationale this signified sole commitment to the company’s own new platform solution SaxoTraderGO. The brokerage has been optimistic about the new launch and according to the Danish bank, the main rationale for parting with MT4 was the adoption rate of the newly launched platform.

"Cyprus remains an important jurisdiction for our business"

While the new solution by Saxo Bank looks materially easier to use, some of the features of MT4, like automated trading using expert advisors, is still not accessible in the SaxoTraderGO solution.

This is likely to change when third party applications and add-ons are developed and integrated into the new platform of Saxo Bank using the Open API, which the Danish company said will be made available some time later this year.

Operational Presence in Cyprus

Speaking to Finance Magnates' reporters, Saxo Bank’s Executive Vice President, Mateo Cassina, commented about Cypriot operations of Saxo Bank, “Cyprus remains an important jurisdiction for our business and Saxo will continue to retain a presence in the country."

“This includes operational infrastructure and a relationship management hub servicing the needs of our growing client base across the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and most recently also the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,” he added.

Elaborating on the adoption rates of the new platform, Mr. Cassina said, “Back on the 27th of May, 35 percent of all unique trading platforms users were trading on SaxoTraderGO. Clients of Saxo Capital Markets CY Ltd. have been offered the opportunity to continue their client relationship with Saxo Bank and they have been provided with access to the SaxoTraderGO platform.”

Saxo Bank's MT4 Business

When asked about specific account figures, Mr. Cassina declined comment, however he stated, “A significant part of Saxo Bank’s MT4 clients have welcomed the new platform and seamlessly transitioned their business across to it.”

There has been no official information about the size of Saxo Bank's Cypriot operation which until recently has been exclusively using the MT4 platform. With the introduction of higher Margin Requirements after the Swiss National Bank debacle in January, some clients of Saxo could have opted for an alternative solution prompting the Danish broker to reassess its MT4 business.

Mr. Cassina elaborated on the choices made by the bank, "The closure of our MT4 offering is in line with our strategy to focus on our core business which is to provide the most sophisticated and robust Trading Platform available to our clients. With the launch of SaxoTraderGo, the gap between the MT4 offering and our own offering has widened to such an extent so as to remove the need for our clients to trade on MT4."

"Cyprus remains an important jurisdiction for our business"

While the new solution by Saxo Bank looks materially easier to use, some of the features of MT4, like automated trading using expert advisors, is still not accessible in the SaxoTraderGO solution.