LeapRate Exclusive… The revolving door which has seen senior management members of Saxo Bank both come and go over the past few months continues to swing….
Claus Nielsen, Saxo Bank
LeapRate has learned that the latest member of senior management to depart Saxo Bank is Claus Nielsen, one of the longest tenured employees at the Copenhagen based Retail FX broker.
Claus Nielsen has been Saxo Bank’s Head of Markets almost since the company’s inception (since 2003), and was named a member of the company’s four-person Executive Management Group in 2008. With his departure, that club is now down to just three people – Saxo Bank co-founder and CEO Kim Fournais, COO Soren Kyhl, and CFO & Risk Officer Steen Blaafalk.
Mr. Nielsen was instrumental for a number of years in many of Saxo Bank’s key initiatives and successes, from the development of new proprietary trading platforms to the growth of multi-asset trading, as well as liquidity partnerships and even marketing strategy.
For the time being, we understand that Mr. Nielsen’s management responsibilities will be split between COO Soren Kyhl, and the company’s newly hired Chief Client Officer Damian Bunce, who joined Saxo Bank earlier this year from Sberbank.
As noted, Saxo Bank has been very active on both the executive and M&A fronts, since the company announced a takeover of the company by China’s Geely Group and Finland’s Sampo. While that transaction is still pending some final regulatory approvals, the company’s current management team has already been busy reshaping the company through both a number of hires and departures, as well as jettisoning certain businesses (e.g. South Africa FX business, Danish private banking arm Privatbank), and investing more in others – mainly geared toward China the Far East.
Saxo Bank CEO Kim Fournais spoke with us about Claus’ departure:
I want to sincerely thank Claus for his contribution to Saxo Bank in his roles as Head of Markets, Executive Team member as well as a valued colleague and friend. I know that Claus will remain a true Saxonian and a friend of the house over the years to come.
Claus Nielsen said to us:
I have worked with Saxo for almost 15 years and it has been a privilege and a pleasure to be a part of the journey from the bank’s more humble beginnings to where we are today. I am very proud of what I have been a part of achieving but now is the right time for me to look for new opportunities outside Saxo. I will always be an ambassador for Saxo and look forward to follow Saxo closely setting new standards in the industry, developing new partnerships, continuing the investor growth path while developing superior service for active traders.