Saxo Appoints Matteo Cassina as Global Head of Institutional Business

HELLERUP, Denmark, January 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, today appointed Matteo Cassina in a newly created position of Global Head of Institutional Business. He will be based at Saxo Bank's London office in Canary Wharf, and report to the co-CEOs and co-founders of the Bank, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen.

Matteo's appointment is an important step in Saxo Bank's strategy to continue its rapid growth within the institutional space. For the same reason Saxo is now placing its core institutional activities in London.

Matteo Cassina has extensive senior experience in investment banking as well as specific expertise in electronic trading, having served as the Head of Prime Access SM for Goldman Sachs and Head of Total Trader for Merrill Lynch. Matteo later served as President of Citadel Execution Services, the broker dealer of the US Hedge Fund and arguably the world's biggest and most profitable market maker.

In 2011 Financial News nominated him as one of the 10 most influential people in the European Market Structure. As a former Member of the Boerse Berlin Exchange Council and the Boerse Berlin Supervisory Board, Matteo Cassina also brings extensive Regulatory and Market Control experience and high level access to the industry.

Co-CEOs and co-founders Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen said in a joint statement:

"The appointment of a Global Head of Institutional Business is a major strategic step for Saxo Bank. Matteo brings considerable experience and senior market presence, which will prove invaluable as we continue to grow our business rapidly in both the institutional and private retail space. We are proud to have Matteo Cassina on board to drive the institutional growth out of London.

"Having refined our award-winning multi-asset trading platform for many years, we are approaching the tipping point where traditional players with old mainframe infrastructures are becoming less competitive. Saxo's cloud based solution is disrupting the old ways of doing business in the same way that we have seen technology radically change other industries."

Matteo Cassina said:

"I worked for traditional investment banks for almost two decades and feel extremely excited about the opportunity to leverage the latest technology to empower our clients to engage with the markets in an innovative new environment. My last 20 years have been about banking; the next will be about applying radical new technology within the investment banking sector."

As a sponsor of Team Tinkoff-Saxo for the past five seasons, Saxo Bank is particularly pleased to welcome Matteo, who is a devoted cycling enthusiast and a significant stake holder in Passoni, a luxury Italian bicycle manufacturer. An Italian national, Matteo is also fluent in English, French and Spanish.

About Saxo Bank

Saxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist, offering private investors and institutional clients a complete set of tools for their trading and investment strategies. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables clients to trade FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives on our award-winning SaxoTrader platform, accessible on PCs, tablets or smartphones through a single account and available in more than 20 languages. The platform is white-labelled by more than 100 major financial institutions worldwide. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management as well as traditional banking services through Saxo Privatbank. Founded in 1992, Saxo Bank is headquartered in Copenhagen and has offices in 25 countries throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Australia.