Saxo Bank revenue down 15% in 2H-2021 to $312M, profits off 53%
Copenhagen based Retail FX and CFDs broker Saxo Bank has released its 2021 annual report, indicating a significant slowdown in activity in profitability during the second half of the year. The results shouldn’t come as a surprise to FNG readers, as our coverage of Saxo Bank’s monthly trading volumes indicated some of its slowest months in years during 2H-2021.
For the full year 2021, Saxo Bank brought in Revenue (what it terms Operating Income) of DKK 4.492 billion, or USD $679 million, with $312 million of that occurring in the second half of the year – down 15% from the first half’s $366 million.
On the net profit line the decline was more pronounced, with Saxo reporting net profit of DKK 755 million (USD $114 million), roughly the same as in 2020, with $37 million of that profit coming in 2H-2021 – down 53% from the first half’s $77 million.
Saxo Bank said that 2021 started with high volatility and a Reddit-fueled campaign, which saw retail activity spike in several of the then heavily-shorted stocks. Many of these names continue to attract investor interest although the hype has faded from its peak. The market activity was generally high in Q1 2021, which had a positive impact on performance in terms of new client intake, client assets, and revenue. As market activity normalised in the following quarters Saxo continued to grow its client base and took in a record 263,000 new trading clients in 2021.
Overall, 2021 saw an accelerated growth in clients, client assets and Trading related revenue compared to 2020, which was a year characterised by high volatility and market activity caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 and its impact on markets, economies and behaviours.
A major focus during the year at Saxo Bank was the integration of BinckBank, where it completed the full migration of all retail BinckBank clients to the Saxo Bank infrastructure and platforms by the end of November 2021. The successful completion means that Saxo has now migrated more than 400,000 clients across four jurisdictions to new and more modern platforms and a unified state-of-the-art infrastructure in less than three years. In early 2022, Saxo said it will migrate the last segment of BinckBank clients: independent asset manager clients and their end-clients, thereby concluding the full integration of BinckBank into the Saxo Bank Group.
Saxo Bank is controlled by Chinese financial and industrial conglomerate Geely Group.
The full Saxo Bank 2021 Annual Report can be downloaded here (pdf).