Change business model and expand market share

A boutique broker and asset and wealth manager, DIF Broker provides clients in Spain, Portugal, Poland and Latin America (through its subsidiary DIF Markets) with multi-asset market access and leading personal service.

At the turn of the century, the financial services industry was changing rapidly. DIF Broker realised that to expand its business and meet the evolving needs of traders and investors, it must adapt its business model.

It sought to go from a traditional phone-based brokerage to a technology-first firm. Since then its new digital model has been meeting the needs of self-directed retail traders and provide them with direct access to capital markets. 

Challenge: Find a cost-effective way of expanding product offering 

To adapt to the changing landscape, DIF Broker required a bespoke digital trading platform. However, building a proprietary platform from the ground up would be cost prohibitive and slow to market. DIF Broker needed a partner that could help it overcome these issues as it sought to gain significant market share in Spain and Portugal.

Solution: Outsource to Saxo's capital markets infrastructure 

DIF Broker has taken on two of our Open Banking solutions, using our white label package to help its European expansion, and employing our OpenAPI to gain ground in Latin America.

By connecting to our capital markets infrastructure via API, DIF has been able to create bespoke applications, tailored to local markets, including DIF Portfolios and the Easy Bond app.

The Easy Bond app perfectly demonstrates DIF Broker’s commitment to develop a user-friendly experience for its clients. DIF Broker is a truly technology-first firm that uses our tech to power an application tailored to local client needs. By employing the right technology, its clients can swiftly trade relevant markets, wherever they are.

The DIF Portfolio solution for DIF Markets – built in collaboration with Saxo – enables clients to subscribe to managed portfolios in just one click, view positions at any time, keep exposure under control and understand what is driving the portfolio’s results.

Results: Exponential growth, and expanded product and service offering

By partnering with Saxo, DIF Broker has not only been able to leverage a state-of-the-art platform and trading technology, but also expanded successfully. Since our collaboration began, DIF Broker has seen continual exponential growth and broken into new jurisdictions.

DIF Broker now has a presence in Spain, which is a larger market than its traditional base, enabling higher levels of client onboarding and revenues than ever before.

“We managed to deliver good products with speed, confidence and transparency to Portuguese and Spanish investors. The association between our two companies has made this business model very successful for us.”

Pedro Lino, 
CEO DIF Broker