Danish brokerage group Saxo Bank has launched its investment platform and app in the UK.
The SaxoInvestor platform can be accessed on desktop or via a mobile app on iOS and Android.
The platform was already live in other jurisdictions, notably Singapore, but this is the first time clients trading with the firm’s UK entity can access it.
Saxo has made a big push over the last couple of years to move into long-term investment products. The UK entity’s recent marketing efforts, for example, has focused almost exclusively on its equities offering, with related products like ISAs and SIPPs.
The move to offer the new application is likely a way of attracting clients interested in these products.
Saxo’s historical offering has been more geared towards CFDs and other leveraged products. That means its ‘regular’ platform offers features that a normal investor, looking for more vanilla products, wouldn’t be particularly interested in.
The goal of the new platform seems to be aimed at catering more to this audience.
The shift in focus is probably down to a couple of factors. One is that offering leveraged products in the UK has become a bigger and bigger headache because of regulation.
The other is likely that Saxo wants to sell its business or even go public. Investors like vanilla products more because they can – in theory – provide more predictable cash flows and there is far less regulatory risk attached to them.