Saxo Bank strengthens its institutional business, appoints three non-executive directors to UK board

Technology-led electronic trading stalwart Saxo Bank has today announced the appointemnt of three non-executive directors to its board, all of whom have vast experience within large financial institutions and commercial trading technology providers.

Anthony Belchambers has been appointed Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. A non-executive director at Saxo Capital Markets Ltd since September 2014, Anthony will continue to provide invaluable expertise on the regulatory environment and help guide the business through the next phase of the institutional build-out. Anthony founded FIA Europe, formerly the Futures & Options Association, in 1992 and was its Chief Executive until March 2014. He remains a special adviser to FIA Europe.

Richard Balarkas has joined the board as Non-Executive Director. Widely regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic trading, Richard brings to the board extensive industry and regulatory expertise gained over thirty years of working in financial markets. His experience includes senior roles at Credit Suisse, where he was instrumental in creating the bank’s electronic trading business, and more recently at Instinet Europe, the institutional agency broker, where he served as CEO.

David Gelber has also joined the board as Non-Executive Director. A seasoned director, David combines extensive corporate governance expertise with a deep understanding of electronic trading. During a career spanning four decades, David has served as COO of ICAP plc and COO of HSBC Global Markets among others. He currently holds a number of non-executive director positions, including at Intercapital Private Group Ltd, a holding company with investments in trading platforms and previously majority owner of CityIndex Ltd.

Matteo Cassina, CEO, Saxo Capital Markets Ltd, said:

“We are thrilled to continue to work with Anthony in this new capacity and to welcome Richard and David to the board. Their combined capabilities will be invaluable as we continue to diversify our business and revenues in an environment in which regulatory compliance is a core focus for us. Our new board reflects the significant transformation of Saxo Bank’s business in the UK. Our ambition is to further build out our multi-asset trading capabilities with London as a major hub for our institutional offering and facilitate partnerships and collaborations that make trading and investment opportunities accessible and efficient.

“With regulatory requirements for major asset classes converging, Saxo is ideally placed to offer unrivalled trading capabilities, liquidity and post-trade solutions to meet the multi-asset trading needs of institutions and their clients.

Saxo Bank has continued to bolster its institutional multi-asset trading credentials with a number of appointments from major financial institutions over the past year. These include Peter Plester who joined from Rabobank to lead FX prime brokerage; Gerard Lelliott who joined from Deutsche Bank to lead Saxo’s prime of prime services offering, Alessandro Bressan, who joined from Deutsche Bank to lead Saxo’s global equities offering and Alexander South who joined from Jefferies Bache bringing expertise in the listed derivatives space to Saxo’s institutional segment. Today, Saxo’s institutional business spans trading, prime brokerage, liquidity and post-trade services, as well as a well-established white label trading solutions business.

Mr. Belchambers commented:

“The appointments reflect the board’s commitment to push forward with the ambition to address the increasingly complex trading environment and deliver financial institutions and professional investors with an innovative and sophisticated trading and post-trade infrastructure. Saxo has tremendous credentials in bringing innovations to trading, and I am confident the bank has a significant role to play as an essential pillar of the market infrastructure of the future”