Exclusive: Saxo Bank heads to China – New office opened in Shanghai

Saxo Bank is a company whose success in the Asia Pacific region has been substantial since it took its inaugural step into the region via its office in Singapore a few years ago.

Today, the company has opened its new office in mainland China, validating the worth of Shanghai’s free zone initiative and taking its new, open API-based SaxoTraderGo platform to a sophisticated, technology-driven audience.

The company’s new office is in the Shanghai World Financial Center in Lujiazui in the heart of the Shanghai free-trade zone.

Saxo Bank has stated that the opening of the Shanghai office marks another step in delivering global online trading value-added services in the Asia time zone for Saxo Bank Group.

Being able to operate from within the mainland, albeit as part of the free zone which offers limited access to the entire Chinese economic and business infrastructure, gives Saxo Bank an actual office of its own in the most important region for the FX industry, and builds on its existing presence in the nation which had been garnered via its representative office in Pudongxin District of Shanghai, and is headed by former GAIN Capital Operations Director for China, Echo Zhao, who was appointed Country Head of China for Saxo Bank in November 2014.

Whilst the representative office remains in full force, Saxo Bank’s new office in Shanghai is owned and operated directly by Saxo Bank, making it one of the first of the large, global and well recognized companies to take its services into mainland China on a direct basis. This is a landmark move for the company indeed, especially bearing in mind that a vast number of Chinese investors are very familiar with the company due to its presence in Singapore.

With regard to the opening of the Shanghai office, Saxo Bank co-founders and co-CEOs Lars Seier Christensen and Kim Fournais have today stated

“We are thrilled to be opening our office in the Shanghai free-trade zone. We have seen trading volumes and demand for content expanding within the region rapidly since the opening of our Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore 9 years ago, and we are delighted to be committing further to Asia and the burgeoning China market by working within the Shanghai Free Trade Zone regulatory framework.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) will become one of the most important markets globally. With China’s initiation of the Silk Road land route and maritime equivalent, this economic program will provide a significant boost to economies in the region as much of the work and investment needed across Eurasia is in infrastructure, buildings and railroads.

The new phase of expansion and economic development will increase demand for financial services and as businesses and people increasingly becoming self-directed in the way they approach their investments, they need modern technology and a comprehensive multi-asset product offering and that is exactly what Saxo Bank offers.”