Saxo Bank Group announces 2020 results; Saxo Markets in Singapore sees record number of new active clients and growth in clients' assets

The Saxo Bank Group, the specialist in trading and investing, welcomed a record high number of 238,000 new active clients and saw a continued inflow of clients' assets in 2020. This brings the Group’s total to a record of more than 660,000 active clients. The total client base has grown more than 230% since 2018 with a strong acceleration of organic growth in 2020. Total clients' assets ended at DKK 478 billion in 2020 and today exceeds DKK 500 billion.

The Saxo Bank Group reported a net profit of DKK 750 million for 2020 compared to DKK 40 million for 2019. The net profit for the Group when eliminating one-offs, equivalent to the Group’s normalised net profit, was above DKK 1 billion for 2020.

In Singapore, Saxo Markets, the licensed subsidiary of Saxo Bank, also reported a significant increase in number of new active clients, level of client activity as well as growth in clients’ assets. While bolstered by market volatility spurred by the global pandemic, the positive growth trends were aided by the availability of the SaxoInvestor platform, which makes it easier for seasoned investors to manage their own trades, as well as strategic launches to expand product offerings and offer more choices for clients. Key events include:

• Introduced its loyalty programme, Saxo Rewards, becoming the first broker in Singapore to introduce an interactive loyalty programme powered by big data, making it the most dynamic and transparent rewards scheme in the trading and investment space today.
• Launched a Regular Savings Plan featuring managed portfolios curated by BlackRock, giving investors direct access to high quality and well-curated asset management with low fees via Saxo. LionGlobal Dynamic Growth: Asian Perspective, a managed portfolio that is designed in partnership with Lion Global Investors, with Asian lens and offers investors high flexibility and low service fee, is also available as a Regular Savings Plan.
• Added Malaysian equities on Saxo platforms, expanding its already broad range of products, now covering 37 global exchanges and over 40,000 products.
• Announced a suite of price reductions on SGX equities, free live price data on SGX, enabling more investors in Singapore to access SGX equities as well as global financial exchanges.

Commenting on the healthy performance of Saxo in Singapore, Adam Reynolds, APAC CEO, Saxo Markets, said, “We have witnessed a seismic shift that has sparked much greater participation in financial markets. The empowerment of retail investors is fundamentally positive – as they take ownership of their investments to better navigate their financial future, and also harness the benefits of long-term compounded growth, that only investments can offer over time. This comes with an important task for investment providers to support their clients - not only by giving access to the financial markets, but also delivering timely and relevant information as well as tools to help clients make informed investment decisions and manage their risk.”

“Globally, we have seen Saxo’s investor business grow by more than 280% in trading related revenue in 2020, continuing to diversify Saxo’s revenue streams. We see the same growth trajectory in Singapore, in particular more women investors, with 380% growth in female clients year-on-year in terms of newly onboarded clients. This is encouraging and we want to do more to help make investing and trading more accessible for more people. Saxo is committed to supporting all of our clients in their journeys to invest their future, through rich research and content, risk management strategies, educational webinars, and a user-friendly platform,” Reynolds added.

Operating income for the Group amounted to DKK 4,316 million in 2020 compared to DKK 2,611 million in 2019, corresponding to an increase of 65%. EBITDA increased to DKK 1,612 million up from DKK 822 million.

2020 key figures at a glance (2019):

• Operating income: DKK 4,316 million (DKK 2,611 million)
• EBITDA (operating profit): DKK 1,612 million (DKK 882 million)
• Net profit: DKK 750 million (DKK 40 million)
• Total equity: DKK 7.4 billion (DKK 7.1 billion)
• Total clients’ assets: DKK 478 billion (DKK 384 billion)
• Total number of clients: >660,000 (>525,000)

Kim Fournais, CEO and Founder of Saxo Bank, said, “As we look back on 2020, we are both humbled and proud that we were able to reach new heights for Saxo Bank, welcoming a record number of more than 238,000 new trading clients. We now see the results of our strategic decisions to further broaden our relevance to more people especially within the investor segment - and we remain fully dedicated to enable our growing client base to fulfill their financial aspirations and make an impact.

The financial result for 2020 was satisfactory and a testament to the quality of our platforms, products, prices, and services – and high levels of trust from our growing client base. Our performance was similarly driven by a combination of external factors such as the increased volatility in the capital markets and a change in client behaviour as well as the continued execution on our strategy, which includes considerable investments over several years in digitisation, scalable infrastructure, processes, the integration of BinckBank and an improved client experience.”

Empowering clients to make informed investment decisions

• More than 50,000 webinar attendees on topics spanning market updates, educational content, and risk management
• 100% increase in daily unique users on platforms (2020 vs. 2019)
• 167% increase in daily concurrent users on platforms (2020 vs. 2019)

The full report is available here: https://www.home.saxo/about-us/investor-relations