Saxo Bank cut 400 jobs at the end of September, 300+ of them at its Copenhagen headquarters. This shows yet another step in the 1,000+ employee company’s restructuring efforts to become a bank in more than just name. Founded in 1992 under the name Midas, the company received its banking license in 2001 and changed its name to Saxo Bank. Though Saxo’s core business model is that of an online broker/dealer concentrating heavily on FX, the firm has relied heavily on its Bank moniker for marketing purposes. This brilliant move on the part of its founders has given the bank an aura of credibility in the global FX market space.
Saxo has been known for professional top level organization and bank-like structure despite its broker style business model. The firm’s heavy reliance on White Label Partners rather than direct retail clients has also moved it up-market into the institutional sphere.
Over the past year Saxo Bank has undergone incessant restructuring; cutting, creating and reshuffling positions and repositioning its global reporting structure. In the process creating more redundant yet important sounding corporate titles than most FX Dealers ever knew existed. As of late Saxo has also been very active building a global presence through strategic accusation. In June 2008, Saxo Bank acquired the French brokerage Cambiste, which has been renamed Saxo Banque and in May the firm set of on the acquisition of Australian broker Tricom, set to be renamed Saxo Capital Markets Australia. All this follows Saxo’s late 2007 accusation of Swiss Synthesis Bank, now Saxo Bank (Switzerland) AG, whose founder Charles-Henri Sabet was named Saxo’s Global Head of Trading and subsequently suspended in August of 2008 due to an internal investigation.
Despite all this growth and restructuring one is still left to wonder if the job cuts don’t have more to do with fitting into their new digs than some sort of global plan to streamline operations. Given the firm’s aggressive growth over the past few years, Saxo’s beautiful if chronically delayed new headquarters building would not have been able to hold all of the company’s Copenhagen based staff. Until now.
Tags: Saxo