OANDA lures long-time Saxo executive for crypto consultant role
FX brokerage firm OANDA has strengthened its budding crypto offering with the appointment of Michael Aagaard as a digital assets consultant.
Aagaard held a variety of executive positions during his 20 years with Saxo Bank. During this long stint, he worked his way up through several senior roles with the firm, culminating with the position of Head of Foreign Exchange. In this role, Michael was responsible for development and strategy of the FX products (Spot, Forwards, Swaps, Options and Cryptos).
Aagaard joined Saxo Bank in 2002 in the role of business analyst, which was his first post-graduation position. There, the primary area of his responsibility was to take part of developing a new back office system to replace a legacy system, his Linkedin profile shows.
After more than 5 years working in the back office area, he moved on to a front office position as a senior business analyst at FX market making unit.
In his new role with OANDA, he will play an active role in the broker’s digital asset product development process, advising on overall strategy and develop connectivity to services providers within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
OANDA allows its clients to trade CFDs on four major cryptocurrencies against the US dollar. Spreads start from $80 and margins from 10% for Bitcoin.
Most recently, OANDA teamed up with Kaiko to build auditable pricing for digital assets that meet financial compliance requirements. The partnership combines Kaiko’s crypto market data comprising 13,000 spot pairs with OANDA’s exchange rates for 38,000+ currency pairs and 200+ currencies to bring auditable digital asset data products.
OANDA is a multi-regulated broker with offices in Toronto, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. The company operates an FX trading platform utilized by a mix of retail and institutional investors. Moreover, it provides currency information services to individuals, large corporations and portfolio managers.
OANDA has been ratcheting up its preparation for Britain’s exit from the Europe Union. Earlier in 2020, the multi-regulated broker secured the regulatory approval for its new European subsidiary in Malta. Working under the brand ‘OANDA Europe Markets (OEM)’, the new entity is licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority.
OANDA also acquired Polish broker Dom Maklerski TMS Brokers SA, aka TMS Brokers, to grow across the Baltic countries. Established in 1997, TMS is the oldest and second-largest local Polish brokerage and is regulated under the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), giving the business access to markets in the European Union.
At the time, OANDA signaled that it may close more of such deals, with the company stating that TMS is the first in a number of strategic acquisitions OANDA is looking to complete over the next couple of years.
Under Bambury’s leadership, the firm has undergone a transformative change in its operational configuration, widening its product offering and increasing its marketing investment in order to drive further growth.
