Saxo Bank marks 138% increase in net profit in 2018
Saxo Bank reports a record profit of DKK 955.8 million for 2018 following the sale of its shareholding in Saxo Payments.
Multi-asset trading expert Saxo Bank has earlier today posted its financial results for 2018, with profits marking a sharp increase from the preceding year.
Saxo Bank Group registered a net profit of DKK 955.8 million in 2018, a record profit for the Group, an increase of 138% compared to 2017. Client collateral deposits continued to rise to DKK 112.6 billion while the operating income for the group was DKK 2.8 billion, an 8% decrease compared to 2017.
Saxo Bank Group continued to strengthen its capital position with the total capital ratio for the Group reaching 35% as of the end of 2018 compared to 22.7% at the end of 2017, thus retaining a comfortable buffer.
Annual EBITDA for 2018 was DKK 1,408 million, up from DKK 931.6 million a year earlier, whereas total equity was DKK 5.6 billion, up from DKK 4.6 billion in 2017.
Commenting on the results, Kim Fournais, CEO and founder of Saxo Bank, noted that during 2018
Saxo Bank welcomed Geely Holding Group and Sampo plc as new shareholders giving the Group a strong foundation and governance to execute its long-term plans.
Saxo has also launched a wide range of new products, platforms, services and improvements in its pricing to its clients notably the two new platforms, SaxoTraderPRO and SaxoInvestor. These factors have supported a 67% increase in new direct trading clients.
Contributing factors to the small decline in revenue are the sale of Saxo’s last non-core activities, lower client activity levels given the generally difficult market conditions as well as the introduction of lower prices across products.
Mr Fournais added that Saxo has a solid foundation for executing the planned acquisition of BinckBank. BinckBank and Saxo Bank are highly complementary and the combination of the businesses is set to create win-win for all stakeholders as clients will be offered better products, prices, platforms and services, employees will benefit from enhanced career opportunities in a larger international organisation.
In 2018, Saxo Bank took the final steps to streamline the business to focus on the core areas of trading and investing. As part of this strategy, 2018 saw the successful sale of Saxo Privatbank, a fully licensed retail bank with branches across Denmark, and Saxo Payments, a provider of infrastructure for online cross-border payments. In line with Saxo Bank’s partnership strategy, both entities continue to leverage Saxo Bank’s technology and investment infrastructure as wholesale partners.
