Category Archives: Profits

Profits

ATX GROUP Releases Global Portfolio-Level Trading Algorithm

ATX GROUP has announced the launch of AT-SYSTEM, a trading algorithm that enables the implementation of multiple portfolio level instructions such as risk neutralization and cash balancing. Using over 56 different risk metrics, AT-SYSTEM optimizes execution at the portfolio level by taking into account correlations between assets, as well as volatility and projected market impact. The result is better overall execution and risk management. AT-SYSTEM also offers traders improved performance by reducing the variance of execution costs. With this launch, buy-side traders can directly access the new portfolio-trading algorithm used by ATX GROUP’s Portfolio Trading desk.

“The addition of AT-SYSTEM to our constantly evolving suite of algorithms underscores our commitment to providing our clients with a complete set of trading tools and solutions to manage their global execution needs,” said Alexander Hutton, Managing Director at ATX GROUP.

AT-SYSTEM supports futures, options and exchange-traded funds, and accesses venues in all major markets in line with ATX GROUP’s liquidity philosophy. In addition, AT-SYSTEM offers clients the ability to analyze each step in the lifecycle of the trade by seamlessly integrating with MS Analytics, ATX GROUP’s industry-leading, multi-asset analytics platform.

Clients can access AT-SYSTEM through ATX GROUP trading platform or through a vendor partner and can execute trades themselves or with the support of the Firm’s experienced Electronic or Portfolio Trading teams. AT-SYSTEM is currently available in Asia and in The Americas and will be available in Europe by the beginning of the next year.

ATX GROUP Electronic Trading provides a complete spectrum of services, from pre-trade analytics and execution to post-trade execution performance analysis and commission management. AT-SYSTEM offers a comprehensive algorithmic trading suite and various direct market access strategies, including our smart order routing technology and our dark pool aggregator.

ATX GROUP is a leading global financial services firm, providing a wide range of investment banking, derivatives trading, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm’s employees serve clients worldwide, including corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals. For further information about ATX GROUP please visit www.atx-group.com.

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Saxo Bank Announces New Offshore Renminbi CNH

Saxo Bank, the specialist in online trading and investment, today announced that the new USDCNH currency cross is now available on its trading platforms. Clients of Saxo Bank will now be able to trade the offshore Chinese renminbi against the US Dollar.

Streaming prices on ticket sizes up to USD 3 million will be available during regular FX trading hours from 8am Mondays Sydney time to 5pm Fridays New York time. Larger trade sizes will be available on a Request for Quote (RFQ) basis. The Margin Requirement for the USDCNH is 8% and the minimum trade size is USD 5,000 notional.

The USDCNH will be available to all Saxo Bank’s clients, including those of white label clients, but will not be available to clients of Saxo Capital Markets HK.

Claus Nielsen, Head of Trading, Saxo Bank comments: “Over the past few years, the Chinese government has allowed the renminbi to appreciate against the US Dollar, and has gradually deregulated the currency’s trading. CNH offers an important option to take and manage renminbi risk and exposure to real investments and positive yield. The development of the offshore renminbi CNH is integral to China’s broader strategic plans to internationalise and turn the renminbi into a viable reserve currency.

“London, whose 37 per cent share of the global forex market is twice the one of its nearest rival New York, has just been officially approved by China as an offshore centre for trading renminbi. We expect USDCNH to become an interesting trading currency for our clients in the future.”

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Saxo Bank Announces New Shareholder

Saxo Bank is pleased to announce that TPG Capital, one of the world’s leading investment firms, will become a major shareholder in Saxo Bank. Following the signing of a purchase agreement, a TPG Capital affiliate will acquire a 30% stake in the Company (along with an option to increase its stake to 40%) from existing investors, including General Atlantic, a global growth investor and Banco Espirito Santo, a leading Portuguese bank, amongst others. The founders, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen will retain majority ownership and continue in their roles as CEOs, also in the event that TPG Capital exercises its option to acquire 40%. TPG Capital’s investment is subject to customary regulatory and competition authority approvals.

General Atlantic invested in Saxo Bank in 2005 and both Espirito Santo Financial Group and Banco Espirito Santo invested in Saxo Bank in 2008. Banco Espirito Santo will continue to build the commercial cooperation that the bank has had with Saxo Bank since 2008, namely through Banco BEST that is owned by both entities.

Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, founders, CEOs and majority shareholders in Saxo Bank said in a joint statement: “We are delighted to welcome one of the world’s leading investment firms as a major shareholder and business partner. This new phase in Saxo Bank’s growth stems from the strong foundation built with the support from our selling shareholders, who have shared in our success to date. We remain enthusiastic about Saxo Bank’s future and look forward to working with TPG Capital to capitalise on the many opportunities ahead.”

Asiff Hirji, Partner at TPG Capital said: “Saxo Bank has achieved impressive growth and we look forward to supporting the future diversification strategy. TPG Capital has a strong track record of investing in and growing financial services businesses, particularly those seeking further expansion in emerging markets, where we see tremendous opportunities for Saxo Bank. We look forward to working with its two founders and CEOs.”

Bill Ford, CEO of General Atlantic and Ricardo Salgado, CEO of Banco Espirito said in a joint statement: “We have been pleased with our partnership with Saxo Bank over the last several years and consider this a very successful investment.”

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TradingFloor.com Releases Video on Meeting of Global Central Bankers

TradingFloor.com, the home of Saxo Bank’s trading commentary, financial research and analysis, has released a video discussing the important meeting of a number of global central bankers at Jackson Hole in the U.S.

The state of the economy and the more active role of central banks to help rectify this means that investors are keenly interested in the fact that a number of global central bankers are meeting in Jackson Hole. There is also a lot of interest in what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will or won’t say when he addresses the meeting in a press conference.

Steen Jakobsen, chief economist, Saxo Bank, discusses his views on the market expectations and what the likely outcome of this meeting will be in TradingFloor.com’s latest video ‘Constructive Jackson Hole solution or more of the same?’

Last year, during the same meeting in a mountainside retreat, Ben Bernanke surprised everyone by announcing a second round of Quantitative Easing. With concerns about a double dip recession rising, people are expecting a big announcement this time around too. Steen Jakobsen believes that the main objective of Bernanke’s press conference will be to avoid “Japanisation”, which is a deflationary environment with low growth and low interest rates through more of the same monetary policy.

Recent data also suggests that the U.S. economy is going to need some sort of help in the form on intervention in the fourth quarter. Steen believes that even though quarter two was a failure, Bernanke will continue to defend the easing concept, despite his reputation is on the line. Bernanke is expected to claim that without the easing concept, the situation would have probably ended up being much worse.

A press conference by Jean-Claude Trichet the European Central Bank President, will follow that of Bernanke. He is also expected to defend the bank’s previous actions in raising rates, despite receiving heavy criticism that this was out of sync with the rest of Europe.

Steen states that the hope is that Trichet will now come up with some real solutions for the Eurozone’s economic problems. This should hopefully mean the Eurozone will lean more towards solidarity and consolidation, thus getting rid of the pointless political battles which have been making the problems worse.

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TradingFloor.com Releases Video On The Swiss Franc Dilemma

TradingFloor.com, the home of Saxo Bank’s trading commentary, financial research and analysis, has released a video discussing the current dilemma involving the Swiss Franc.

The Swiss Franc has appreciated of late, and therefore so has the focus of what the Swiss Bank and the Swiss government will do to curb this strength, as it is hurting businesses and therefore the Swiss economy.

One of the steps which have been discussed the most is a peg to the Euro; however this is yet to happen, despite much speculation. With the attempts to weaken the currency’s strength possibly only providing temporary relief, it is seen as only a matter of time before more extreme measures, such as a peg to the Euro, are taken.

Ken Veksler, senior manager, Trading Advisory at Saxo Bank discusses his opinions on the likelihood of a peg to the Euro and the effect the Swiss Franc dilemma is having on the Swiss economy.

Veksler believes that a peg to the Euro is an extreme measure, and the likelihood of that happening is fairly minimal. There was a successful attempt made in 1978, where the Swiss Franc was pegged to the German Deutschmark for around 18 months, however, Veksler thinks it will be unlikely that this extreme measure will be taken again, even though the scare in the market in recent days and weeks has made it more of a serious topic than previously thought.

The Swiss government would be unhappy to put a peg to the Euro in place because it would mean a loss of its position as an independent state within a wider UN zone, which they have prided themselves on for quite some time.

Veksler believes that if the peg did come into place the Swiss Bank would have to revert to printing money to allow themselves adequate reserves to put this sort of action into place. However, this is more of a band aid for the problem rather than a full term solution.

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Saxo Bank Announces Half Year Results

Saxo Bank reported a net profit of DKK 346 million for the first six months of 2011. The result which is in line with expectations represents an increase of 375% over the second half of 2010, and a decrease of 37% compared with the first six months of 2010, where market activity and volatility were unusually high.

– Operating income DKK 1,772 million (DKK 1,992 million)
– Profit before tax DKK 474 million (DKK 729 million)
– Net profit DKK 346 million (DKK 551 million)
– Solvency ratio 12.3% (19.2%)
– Clients’ collateral deposits DKK 32,855 million (DKK 26,590 million)
– Assets under management DKK 32,357 million (DKK 24,606 million)

Saxo Bank saw a significant increase in average monthly volumes traded in CFD stock indices, single stocks and commodities, cash stocks, FX options and futures compared to the same period last year. Monthly FX volumes averaged approximately DKK 1.2 trillion in the first half of 2011, with lower trading volumes in the first quarter and a pick up in the second.

While the overall trader and investor activity level was moderate in the first half of 2011, the Bank saw continued growth in clients’ collateral deposits and assets under management, which are the foundation for future business and profits. Total assets under management in Saxo Bank’s trading business increased from DKK 31.2 billion as of 31 December 2010 to DKK 32.4 billion as of 30 June 2011. Clients’ collateral deposits in Saxo Bank’s asset management business increased from DKK 31.3 billion as of 31 December 2010 to DKK 32.9 billion as of 30 June 2011.

Operating income for the first six months of 2011 reached DKK 1,772 million for the Group. This is lower compared to the same period in 2010, but represents an increase in trading-related income following on from the second half of 2010.

Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, co-founders and CEOs of Saxo Bank, said in a joint statement: “Saxo Bank achieved a satisfactory half-year net profit fully in line with expectations, despite general market conditions which reduced risk appetite in the economy and dampened capital market activities. While keeping a close eye on overall cost developments, Saxo Bank will keep its focus on expanding our products and services as well as optimising the efficiency and profitability of our operations. Overall, we believe the Group has a solid foundation for current and future operations and we expect to continue to create value for our stakeholders.”

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Saxo Properties and Resolution Property Form a €250 Million Joint Venture

Saxo Properties, the property investment arm of Saxo Bank, the Copenhagen-based trading and investment specialist, has entered into a joint venture with Resolution Real Estate Advisers LLP “Resolution Property”, the pan European real estate fund, whose investors include some of the major US universities such as Harvard and Yale and foundations, currently has €1.5 billion of assets under management.

The Joint Venture will focus on co-investing up to approximately €250 million in the central business district of Copenhagen, targeting residential and mixed use, residential and commercial buildings which will benefit from the application of intensive asset management, including refurbishment and the repositioning of occupiers. With an in-house team of 15 highly skilled property professionals and a facilities management arm, Saxo Properties is well positioned to identify off market opportunities, and implement an asset management programme of improvements resulting in significantly enhanced returns for investors.

The new venture, which is already targeting its first purchases, will have a life of three to five years with the emphasis on income growth and capital gains.

Jesper Damborg, Chief Executive of Saxo Properties said: “We are delighted to have teamed up with Resolution Property, one of the leading pan European real estate investors, with assets across Continental Europe. The Joint Venture will seek to take advantage of carefully selected opportunities which have the potential to produce above average returns in the medium term.”

Robert Laurence, Chief Executive of Resolution Property said: “The stability of the underlying economy in Copenhagen, coupled with the opportunity to acquire good quality assets at levels representing a significant discount to their peak values, is of great appeal to us. Our Joint Venture with Saxo Properties provides a highly experienced property team at local level with an established track record of achieving good returns and an exciting opportunity for us to develop our value add real estate strategy in a new market place.”

Saxo Properties is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saxo Bank and was launched in March 2010 to provide closed end funds for both high net worth clients and institutional investors, focusing on residential, office and retail property in Central Copenhagen.

Originally founded in 1998, Resolution Property, backed by a shareholder base including international private equity investors, pension funds and major US universities and foundations, is invested across continental Europe including France, Poland, Germany, United Kingdom and Switzerland. With a €808 million capital raising completed in 2007, Resolution Property is targeting a portfolio size over €2.6 billion.

de Morgan & Company of London, acted on behalf of Saxo Properties in the negotiations and Resolution Property was represented by Whitmarsh Holt Young along with local advisers including Plesner and Sadolin & Albæk.

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Saxo Bank Acquires 25% Stake In Broker Solutions Provider Leverate

Saxo Bank and Leverate announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership in which Saxo Bank has acquired 25% of Leverate. The broker solutions provider offers a full turn-key solution for brokerage companies looking to offer trading capabilities based on the online automated trading application MetaTrader or to complement their existing trading solutions.

Through this acquisition, Saxo Bank and Leverate will continue to enhance their offerings towards institutional segments and retail brokers by adding new trading functionalities. Leverate’s complete solution provides brokers with the services needed to increase their conversions, trading volume and risk management capabilities by offering products integrated to the MT4 and other proprietary platforms. Since its release in 2005, MetaTrader has established itself as one of the most popular non-proprietary Forextrading platforms. Offering advanced functionality, the system is regarded as one of the preferred auto-dealing systems on the market and it is widely used by FX traders.

Stig Pastwa, Chief Commercial Officer of Saxo Bank, commented on the acquisition: “We have seen an increased demand among our institutional and retail clients for automated trading solutions, including MetaTrader. Leverate’s track record and ability to deliver a comprehensive and reliable trading environment has made them an obvious choice as a provider of technology supporting the MT4 universe, which lives up to Saxo Bank’s award winning standard of execution. As an extension to our important business for white-label and institutional clients, we wish to support Leverate with technology and liquidity. While keeping their independence, we hope to assist Leverate in their already impressive growth from which their customers will further benefit.”

In a joint statement, the co-CEOs of Leverate, Ran Strauss and Doron Cohen commented: “Leverate had been approached on multiple occasions by other private equity funds eager to enter into a business relationship, but when we met Saxo Bank, we felt we had encountered the perfect partner. Leverate will continue to provide innovative and comprehensive proprietary solutions for the FX market, and we are proud to be working together with Saxo Bank. Time and time again, Saxo Bank has been recognised as a leading force in the FX industry, and together we plan to continue Leverate’s R&D efforts in the area of technology solutions and related services for brokers and financial institutions. This mutually beneficial partnership will allow our clients to benefit from enhanced top-tier liquidity sources, while Saxo Bank’s clients can have access to our Complete Broker Solution: MT4, Live Feed, Web & Mobile Traders, CRM and Risk Management, powered by Leverate, and fully integrated with Saxo Bank’s core liquidity and execution engine. This partnership will in no way change the management or operations of Leverate and our clients can only benefit from it.”

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Saxo Bank Launches FX Binary Touch Options

Saxo Bank, the specialist in online trading and investment, today announced the launch of six Binary Touch Options on its trading platform. The Binary Touch options will initially be offered in six currency pairs; EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD, EURJPY, EURGBP, and AUDUSD. They will be tradable from Saxo Bank’s award winning FX Options Board, where clients are already able to trade regular FX Vanilla Options.

The launch will further extend Saxo Bank’s FX offering and allow clients to trade in the world’s most liquid financial market in a simple and convenient way. A Binary Touch Option differs from a plain Vanilla Option in that the potential gains and losses of a Binary Touch Option position is known upfront, thus greatly simplifying the transaction. Clients may invest not only in which direction the price will move, but at the same time express their views on how far and over what time period.

Unlike other trading platforms that offer similar products, Saxo Bank will offer its clients the ability to close-out their long or short positions at the current market price prior to expiry.

Gustave Rieunier, Global Head of FX Options & Forward Trading at Saxo Bank, said: “Adding Binary Touch Options trading to our platform bridges the gap between FX Spot and FX Vanilla Options and meets the recent demand in the market for wanting to trade in the global currency market in a simple, straight forward manner. Whether you are a seasoned FX trader or new to investing in currencies, this is an excellent way to add FX exposure to your portfolio.

“Saxo Bank has developed into one of the top market makers in the global FX Options space. Adding such a simple and straight forward product to our strong liquidity and award winning pricing capabilities is another significant improvement to our FX offering.”

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Saxo Bank Wins Best Liquidity Distribution Service at the eFX Awards 2011

Saxo Bank, the specialist in online trading and investment, has won the “Best Liquidity Distribution Service” award at the annual eFX Awards 2011 hosted by FX Week in New York.

At the core of Saxo Bank’s offering is its White Label solution for banks that require a market leading on-line trading platform for their clients. The key benefits of the solution are:

– It facilitates ownership and control of banks’ relationships with their clients whilst maintaining full client anonymity from Saxo Bank.
– Access to a fully branded and customised trading solution.
– A facility for banks to distribute their own FX liquidity to their clients via the white-label platform.
– A multi-asset offering with more than 20,000 financial products, including FX, Stocks,CFDs and commodities.
– Flexibility and control allows banks to distribute liquidity from the asset classes with tailored commission pricing to their own clients, based on their own local and regional requirements.

For institutional clients, such as hedge funds and retail aggregators with sophisticated high trading volumes, Saxo Bank’s trading API compliments their needs by making its multi-asset product range available in the client’s own systems via a low latency VPN, standard FIX protocol API. The trading API extends Saxo Bank’s distribution services and makes available its range of FX crosses and order routing for CFDs, Stocks and Futures in the client’s proprietary systems.

The founders and co-CEOs of Saxo Bank, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christens said in a joint statement: “Saxo Bank acts as a facilitator linking liquidity from Tier-1-banks and access to over 20 exchanges across the globe to our institutional and retail clients via our integrated platforms. The award acknowledges this business model. It makes us very proud and we are honored to accept the award.”

Saxo Bank was also nominated for the “Best Retail Platform” award. The award was won by Citi. The CitiFX Pro platform is powered by Saxo Bank.

This year the awards were judged by industry experts, Joel Clark, Editor, FX Week, Justyn Trenner, Chief Executive, Client Knowledge, Sang Lee, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Aite Group and Rob Daly, Editor, Sell-Side Technology.

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Saxo Bank Launches New TradingFloor.com

Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, has announced the re-launch of TradingFloor.com, its trading commentary, news and analysis web site. It represents the first upgrade since the site was originally launched mid-2009.

The new site still provides a wealth of information about financial markets to help users make informed decisions when investing. Specifically it covers forex, equities, commodities and macroeconomic data, but it now also reflects the overall goal of building a closer rapport with users to allow for greater engagement and more interaction.

“The new release signifies Saxo Bank’s ongoing commitment to improving the site’s value to clients, prospects and the Bank,” said Hugh Taggart, the head of Saxo Bank’s Content & Strategy Team. “The upgrade also represents the start of an ambitious roadmap to include closer integration with social media channels.”

Some of the improvements include:
– User accounts, a unique user log-in function allowing users to create their own customised dashboards, set and save their interests (including following individual blogs and authors and linking their Twitter accounts) and comment on and ‘like’ content
– Refreshing new branding and overall design
– More analysis from a wider range of sources, including qualified guest contributors
-Educational content on forex, forex options and (CFDs) from Saxo Bank and its trading staff
– Improved content RSS/Atom feed capabilities

The new TradingFloor.com still contains an economic calendar, stock screener and basic free forex charting package.

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Saxo Bank Launches SaxoTrader 2.5 with Improved Navigation and Position Management

Saxo Bank, the specialist in online trading and investment, has announced the launch of SaxoTrader 2.5, the latest update to its multi-asset class trading platform. The new version includes improved navigation and added features to manage positions and orders, and is available to customers from July 2011.

Saxo Bank has replaced the old SaxoTrader menu with an intuitive, easily navigable ribbon-style toolbar. The menu items are now grouped by function which takes up less screen space whilst making the breadth of functions available more accessible and simple to use. “News and Research” as well as “Account” tabs enable users to easily access all the information they need. In addition, new product icons clearly differentiate the various products tradable on the platform.

Enhanced position management features include a module allowing users to view and manage positions and related orders in one integrated workflow. This enables to flexibly close positions, set stop and limit orders, and provides users with a customisable display of all open and closed positions. A heatmap visualisation gives them an additional instant overview of the performance of their positions.

Henrik Dyrholm Holst, Head of Platform Management at Saxo Bank, commented:
“SaxoTrader 2.5 is designed to make trading even faster and more efficient. Nowadays, traders demand intuitive tools that are rich in data and analytics. SaxoTrader is a multi-asset trading platform with a specific set of tools for each asset class. We have therefore focused on making the trading experience for all types of traders as positive and intuitive as possible, and clearly guide users through the broad range of features on the platform.”

This latest release is a subset of the functionality Saxo Bank will be adding to SaxoTrader. The Bank will continue to upgrade the platform in phases this year.

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Saxo Bank Wins Two Awards At The World Finance Foreign Exchange Awards 2011

Saxo Bank, the specialist in online trading and investment, has been named “Best Forex Broker in Northern Europe” and “Best White Label Solution Provider” in the World Finance Foreign Exchange Awards 2011. This accolade acknowledges Saxo Bank’s position as an established FX house and its leading role in the foreign exchange market.

Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, founders and co-CEOs of Saxo Bank, said in a joint statement: “We are delighted that Saxo Bank has won these two awards. Modern traders and investors demand usability, mobility, performance, and service when executing online trades, all of which we will continue to provide our clients with.”

Saxo Bank, which is renowned for aggregating liquidity from the world’s leading FX dealers, facilitates Forex trading on three different online platforms, covering the needs of those who are new to the Forex markets as well as professional investors who demand a wide selection of trading instruments and a variety of product types for multi-asset portfolio creation.

Saxo Bank’s many years of experience in the online trading business and accumulated knowledge of the markets as well as the needs of clients translates into a proven success formula for completely scalable White Label solutions. The solution is built around a customised version of Saxo Bank’s award-winning platform and then branded under the White Label Client’s name.

The World Finance Awards are chosen by an expert panel. They identify industry leaders, individuals, teams and organisations that represent the benchmark of achievement and best practice in the financial and business world. Now in their fourth year, the awards reflect a wider spectrum of financial services and related industries than ever before.

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Saxo Bank’s ForexTrading.com adds new product offerings

Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, has announced the addition of 12 CFDs on major stock indices and 7 commodity CFDs to its ForexTrading.com platform for private traders.

ForexTrading.com was launched by Saxo Bank in early June 2011 and provides traders with browser based and downloadable trading platforms, supporting a range of the world’s most liquid forex, and CFD instruments at competitive spreads.

Claus Nielsen, head of markets at Saxo Bank, said: “The addition of stock index CFDsand seven further commodity CFDs to ForexTrading.com now enables private investors to trade in the most liquid contracts across a range of asset classes. The majority of clients use ForexTrading.com as a no thrills account to trade currencies, however we want to make sure that they have the opportunity to leverage the opportunities they see in other asset classes.”

“We expect dedicated index and commodity traders to enjoy the tight spreads for the CFD indices. The indices are priced competitively with the UK 100 and Germany 30 indices spread going as low as 1 point and the US SPX500 as tight as 0.75 points.”

The minimum initial deposit when opening an account with ForexTrading.com is $2,000 or equivalent, and no interest will be paid on funds on deposit. ForexTrading.com supports retail trading accounts and offers support and service in English.

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Saxo Bank Stays With Riis Cycling in 2012

Saxo Bank and Bjarne Riis, owner and manager of Riis Cycling A/S, have announced that Saxo Bank, a sponsor for the cycling team since 2008, will remain co-title sponsor in 2012 with SunGard, one of the world’s leading software and technology services companies.

Bjarne Riis said: “It is indeed a great day for our cycling team. Saxo Bank is an extremely professional company, so I am proud that Saxo Bank has a strong faith in our work and continues to see the commercial benefits in sponsoring our team.”

“Since 2008 we have shown in both words and actions that we are a great match, and I am convinced we will continue to grow together because of the obvious benefits in a long term relationship. The continuity in our partnership also means a lot for the riders and for me personally. Now we can focus all our attention on creating results and the working process of putting together a strong rider group for next year.”

Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, recently launched Saxo Privatbank, combining traditional banking services with a professional investment universe, and the bank says it has taken a strategic decision to continue the sponsorship in 2012.

In a joint statement, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, co-CEOs and co-founders of Saxo Bank, said: “Saxo Bank has always believed it was a sound commercial decision to support Bjarne Riis and the rest of the team but at the same time, it is hard to exaggerate the impact Bjarne Riis has on Danish and international cycling. We have a genuine desire to support Bjarne and provide the team with the necessary resources it takes to stay on top. Bjarne Riis and the team are a huge inspiration and motivation for many young talents, and Saxo Bank is proud to continue to ensure a world class cycling team in Denmark.”

The name of the team will remain ‘Saxo Bank-SunGard Professional Cycling Team’.

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New Site Positioned to Take Over Daily Deals Market Seeking Investors

SocialDealSpot made a splash in the Washington D.C. market this month when it launched its first deal – saving hundreds of local families 50% on a summer camp for children. Complete with all the technical functionalities of its bigger competitors, the folks at SocialDealSpot are ready and able to take on the big boys in the daily deal offerings market.

Consumer-driven SocialDealSpot gives the people what they want (daily notifications of up to 90% in savings) while it boosts the local economy by bringing customers to small, local businesses. SocialDealSpot focuses its efforts on connecting consumers with local businesses. Their unique business model is set up to harvest subscribers interested in receiving deals prior to soliciting for area business partners. An iPhone application will be launching soon as will a forum for business partners to share their “deal offering” experiences. In addition, SocialDealSpot will be launching deals all over the country in the very near future.

They have proven their capabilities and now it’s time to grow. “We have a small team of people with a lot of heart,” says Michelle Peters, SocialDealSpot spokesperson, “our site is set up with the same functionalities you get with sites like Groupon and Living Social and we’ve gotten far with only a handful of committed staff members who believe what we’re doing is making a difference. But, it’s time to take it to the next level – we’re full of ideas of differentiating ourselves from the competition.”

Along with the plans for a larger web presence, SocialDealSpot’s audacious goals include mass media advertising through billboards, radio and television. “Marketing costs money,” says Peters, “but we’re worth it!” An infusion of investment capital will surely take this optimistic team to the next level to compete successfully with the likes of daily deal moguls such as Living Social and Groupon.

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Markit BOAT to Provide First CFD Trade Reporting System to Saxo Bank

Markit, a leading, global financial information services company, has announced that Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, will begin to report its contract for difference (CFD) trades via Markit BOAT, the trade reporting platform, in September 2011.

Saxo Bank will become the first financial institution to report its CFD Single Stock trades on a voluntary basis, in a bid to bring greater transparency to this fast growing market.

Sophia Kandylaki, Director, Head of Markit BOAT at Markit, said: “We are excited that such a large player in the CFD market has decided to report its trades via Markit BOAT. We will be enhancing our platform to identify CFD trade reports with a unique trade flag. This will differentiate these trades from all other cash equity trades reported to our venue and support Saxo Bank’s efforts to make this market more transparent.”

Claus Nielsen, Head of Markets at Saxo Bank, said: “Saxo Bank has always been a leader and innovator when it comes to transparency and fairness in the trading arena. We are committed to set new standards and by taking an over the counter CFD product like CFDs, and publishing our execution to Markit BOAT, we will bring added value to our clients. This initiative makes the CFD product 100% comparable with the listed stocks traded at the exchange which will have a positive impact on the industry.”

CFDs are over the counter (OTC) contracts between two parties in which the buyers pay the sellers the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time. CFD trades do fall within the scope of the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) but trades are not required to be reported to the market.

Markit BOAT gives users access to trade reports on an average of EUR 375 billion of OTC trades in equities every day. This is equivalent to approximately 70% of the daily volumes reported on all European OTC equity markets.

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Brainwashing Book Readers Prepared For Stock Market Correction — Again!

“The Brainwashing of The American Investor”, now in its second edition, provides you with a proven methodology for successful personal investment portfolio management. Step by step instructions for asset allocation, security selection universe creation, diversification, and profit taking are presented in an anecdotal manner, based on the Author’s hands-on professional experiences.

Author and former private investment manager Steve Selengut developed the Market Cycle Investment Management (MCIM) methodology in 1970, way ahead of the Wall Street product development curve that has now succeeded in bringing the most speculative and risky ventures on the planet into your investment portfolio.

MCIM is a disciplined, common sense, approach to investing without needless speculation. It is an approach that semi-automatically takes your profits out of bubbling markets, and for all the right reasons, re-enters weaker markets systematically in preparation for the inevitable “next” rally.

“The Brainwashing of the American Investor” teaches you about old-school investing without gimmicks, derivatives, incomprehensible “modern portfolio management” techniques, funds of funds, or astrological charts.

The Market Cycle Investment Management methodology helped navigate thousands of “Brainwashing” book readers around and through the three major financial crises (stock market meltdowns) of the author’s lifetime: the “Crash of 1987”, the “Dot-Com Bubble”, and the recent “financial crisis”.

The first time through “Brainwashing” you’ll learn about Wall Street, and why they would prefer that you didn’t read the book in the first place. Your eyes will be opened by the simplicity of the security selection process, the no frills approach to sensible asset allocation, and the ease with which you can increase your annual investment income in a reduced risk environment.

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Saxo Bank Launches Retail FX Trading Platform ForexTrading.com

Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, has announced the launch of ForexTrading.com which will offer retail investors a select range of FX crosses and CFDs with variable spreads – as low as 0.8 pips. ForexTrading.com provides investors with a range of basic functionalities designed to make trading flexible and straightforward.

ForexTrading.com is powered by Saxo Bank, which is renowned for aggregating liquidity from the world’s leading FX dealers. ForexTrading.com gives traders the ability to trade in the world’s most liquid currency pairs and global commodity CFDs at very competitive spreads.

Claus Nielsen, head of markets at Saxo Bank, said: “Saxo Bank will continue to cater for high-net-worth and institutional traders who increasingly demand usability, mobility, performance, and service when executing online trades and orders. At the same time, ForexTrading.com will appeal to Forex and CFD traders who are price sensitive and do not require a personal service, but still want the ability to utilise an award-winning online trading platform.

“We believe the retail foreign exchange market will maintain its growth trajectory for the next 10 to 15 years and we want to cater for high-net-worth investors as well as high-frequency traders to who tight spreads and deep liquidity are essential. There is no additional commission on ForexTrading.com and we see ForexTrading.com as bringing new competition to the smaller competitors, outside the tier-one banks, in the market focused on foreign exchange.”

The minimum initial deposit when opening an account with ForexTrading.com is $2,000 or equivalent and no interest will be paid on funds on deposit. ForexTrading.com will only offer English support and service and ForexTrading.com only supports retail trading accounts.

More information on Forextrading.com forex accounts can be found on the ForexTrading.com website.

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Saxo Bank Announces Ole Sloth Hansen to Visit Dubai

Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, has announced that Ole Sloth Hansen, senior commodity Manager at Saxo Bank, will be visiting Dubai in early June to discuss with investors and the financial media recent trends in commodity prices, which have risen dramatically over the past two years.

Total investments into commodities have risen 250 per cent from US $159 billion in 2008 to $400 billion in 2011, according to Barclays Capital, with investments in gold and silver rising three-fold during the period.

Hansen recently observed that investment flows into commodities have been very strong due to a combination of strong fundamentals and new inventions, such as exchange traded funds (ETFs), which has made the sector accessible to everyone.

“ETFs have had a strong impact on the commodities market, making them accessible to everyone from the biggest hedge fund managers to the retail investor,” said Hansen.

“May has been a month of setbacks across most commodities. Prior to this, commodities had been outperforming bonds, equity and currency investments, so it is most likely that this deceleration is just a temporary correction in an overall bullish market.”

Ole Sloth Hansen is a specialist in traded futures with over 20 years experience, both on the buying and selling side. He joined Saxo Bank in 2008 and today works as a senior manager analysing a diversified range of products from fixed income to commodities. He previously worked for 15 years in London, most recently for a multi-asset Futures and Forex Hedge fund where he was in charge of the trade execution team.

Ole Sloth Hansen will be in Dubai 7/8 June to discuss the commodities landscape at present and the new strategies for entering the market through ETFs.

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