Saxo Bank, the Denmark-headquartered firm, has opened a representative office in Abu Dhabi.

Denmark-headquartered Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, has opened a representative office in Abu Dhabi, licenced by the UAE central bank.

The firm says it was the first Scandinavian bank to establish a presence in the Gulf Corporation Council region, when it launched a regional office in the Dubai International Financial Centre in May 2009.

The Abu Dhabi office will be led by Filippo De Rosa, who will report to Jakob Beck Thomsen, chief economist of Saxo Bank (Dubai) and group regional head for MENASA. De Rosa is joining the office, moving from a position as assisting director with Moody’s Analytics.

In a joint statement, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, co-founders and co-CEOs of Saxo Bank, said:

“We are thrilled to be opening our second office in the UAE.

“We have seen operations expanding within the region rapidly since the opening of our first office in Dubai 5 years ago, and are delighted to be committing further to the Middle East and North Africa by entering Abu Dhabi,” Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, co-founders and co-CEOs of Saxo Bank, said in a statement.

“The UAE has seen a spectacular recovery in 2013, echoing the general recovery since the 2009 downturn. Abu Dhabi is beginning a new phase of expansion and economic development. With impressive strategic investments in areas such as arts and culture, tourism and finance, the Emirate is attracting highly skilled professionals locally and from around the world. These people are increasingly self-directed in the way they approach their investments,” they said.

Saxo Bank says it offers investors access to 30,000 financial instruments, ranging across various asset classes and types of instrument, such as equity shares, exchange traded funds and products.