October 2007

Bank Acquisition: Saxo Bank makes its first acquisition

Takeover of partner Synthesis Bank is central to planned expansion into wealth management.


Synthesis’s former shareholders, including its chief executive and majority owner, Charles-Henri Sabet, will hold about 6.7% of the enlarged Saxo

Saxo Bank, like Oanda, is a predominantly retail FX provider that believes it has reached sufficient maturity to expand its client base into new areas (see Investment in Oanda platform underlines retail sector’s importance, Euromoney, October 2007). The bank announced on September 13 that it had acquired Synthesis Bank of Switzerland in an agreed transaction.

The two institutions have had a partner relationship for more than three years. Although technically a bank, Synthesis is a relatively small but successful trading operation, which had white-labelled Saxo’s SaxoTrader platform. Saxo declined to put a precise value on the transaction but said...


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