Saxo Bank concludes fintech JV sale to Geely Group
Danish bank will now focus on core markets and clients
Copenhagen, Denmark-headquartered Saxo Bank has formalised the sale of Saxo Geely Tech Holding A/S (Saxo Fintech), a world-class fintech pioneer, to Geely Financials Denmark following the signing of relevant agreements.
The divestment of Saxo Fintech shares marks the end of Saxo Bank’s ownership of the Chinese joint venture, allowing it to optimise its business operations and focus on core markets and clients.
Saxo Fintech was established in 2019 as a joint venture entity by Saxo Bank and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to leverage world-class leading financial and regulatory technologies with the experience of technological investment platform development and digital services to benefit a global clientele.
Joint ownership
The fintech joint venture ownership was evenly split between Saxo Bank and Geely Group.
Coming off the back of Geely Group’s local know-how, Saxo Fintech spearheaded the localisation, development, and implementation of some of the world’s most advanced technologies – such as web cloud, big data analytics, risk management and AI – in China. It strengthened the infrastructure of Chinese trading/investing platform, financial governance, investment advisory, asset pricing and regtech services.
As part of the newly concluded transaction, Saxo Bank receives its shares in return – equivalent to approximately 2% of the outstanding Saxo Bank shares.
With the disinvestment of Saxo Fintech, the ownership structure of Saxo Bank is: Geely Financials Denmark (49.88%), Fournais Holding (28.09%), Sampo/Mandatum (19.83%), and minority shareholders (2.20%).
Global specialism
Founded in Copenhagen in 1992, Saxo Bank specialises in multi-asset trading and investing, forex trading, contracts for difference, share dealing, fintech, technology, and IT services.
Saxo Bank was the first Scandinavian bank to establish a commercial foothold in the hydrocarbon-rich Gulf Cooperation Council region when it launched its full-fledged office in Dubai City in May 2009.
Staffed by a full-service team, Saxo Bank Middle East covers the parent bank’s commercial and investment operations across the GCC and MENA regions.
Unique HR policy
In August 2023, Saxo Bank launched a comprehensive maternity and paternity leave policy for its Dubai City-based employees.
The new policy was enacted on June 1, 2023, as part of Saxo Bank’s endeavour to create a progressive workplace for UAE-based staffers and support their personal lives.
The new maternity and paternity leave policy for the bank’s staff in Dubai emirate offers eligible mothers 100 fully paid workdays, tailoring provisions for mothers adopting children under the age of five, combining public holidays and accumulated vacation leave during the maternity period, and allows fathers a five-day paternity leave.
Geely Group is a global mobility technology group headquartered in Hangzhou, Mainland China.
Featured image: Saxo Fintech was established as a joint venture entity by Saxo Bank and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Image: Saxo Fintech
