Retail forex broker Saxo Bank has announced a new white label partnership with Lufax, China’s largest internet finance company, active in the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending business.
In its latest funding round earlier this year from investors including Bank of China Group, Guotai Junan Securities and Minsheng Bank, Lufax was valued at about $19 billion. As of April this year, Lufax’s number of registered users stood at over 21 million, a quarter of which are active investors.
It is interesting to note that Lufax is an associate company of Ping An Group, one of China’s largest financial institutions. Ping An is an investor in retail forex broker and social trading pioneer eToro, yet Lufax decided to go with rival Saxo Bank as its partner for a retail forex solution in China.
The agreement with Lufax marks Saxo Bank’s second agreement with a Chinese company in just the past few weeks. LeapRate reported last month that Saxo Bank entered a tri-party agreement with Wallstreet CN, one of the most popular financial content providers in Greater China, and local broker solutions provider LeanWork. Saxo Bank opened an office in Shanghai late last year to help boost its presence in the region.
The Lufax partnership, expected to launch within the next three months, will see Lufax leverage the trading technology that underpins Saxo Bank’s SaxoTraderGO platform. Saxo Bank will be providing Lufax’s considerable client base with a seamless experience across mobile and desktop platforms, including complete functionality across the trade cycle – from pre-trade, execution and post-trade services for ETFs and cash stocks initially.
Overseas clients from Lufax will benefit directly from Saxo’s multi-asset capabilities – through access to global capital markets from one single account incorporating data from both on and offshore products.
Adam Reynolds, CEO Saxo Bank Asia Pacific, said:
Lufax is a milestone company to commit to providing its clients with a best-in-class trading experience through a white label partnership with Saxo Bank. Our second Chinese partnership in a matter of weeks is multi-faceted; highlighting not only our commitment to the empowerment of the region’s investors and position as an enabler of financial market activity in one of the world’s largest markets, but also the strength of our platform and OpenAPI technology – both of which we believe to be integral to the future of trading globally.
Gregory Gibb, CEO of Lufax added:
We are delighted to be able to offer an alternative channel of this calibre to our trading community. Saxo Bank is at the forefront of online trading and its expertise will strengthen our ambition to be China’s leading online wealth management provider.
Saxo Bank is one of the first financial institutions to give access to its trading infrastructure through the bank’s OpenAPI. The move, which covers Saxo’s multi-asset trading and back office infrastructure, will allow its partners, clients and external developers to access over 20 years of trading infrastructure innovation and enable them to customise their trading experience and create new revenue streams.
White label partnerships remain a fundamental part of Saxo Bank’s business, providing banks with a reliable, sophisticated and cost-efficient way to replace outdated trading technology.