The Danish brokerage has tapped a commercial banking executive from Nordea to lead the next phase of growth.

Danish investment bank Saxo Bank has appointed Mette Ingeman Pedersen as group chief financial officer. She will join the management board and executive team and start no later than November, reporting directly to CEO and founder Kim Fournais.

"Mette brings a strong commercial mindset that will help take Saxo Bank to the next level,” Fournais said. She will succeed Lars Kufall Beck who is departing for insurance and pensions group TopDanmark.

Pedersen was most recently CFO in Nordea’s Nordic Personal Banking unit, which manages €160 billion in assets and serves around nine million customers across the region. Prior to Nordea, she worked as a senior manager in Deloitte, leading the consultancy’s asset management services team. She was also head of finance for Danske’s business banking unit, where she spent a decade in various roles.

Saxo’s purchase of Dutch brokerage BinckBank in 2019 is still being fully integrated, swelling Saxo's client base and the need to provide multi-asset trading capabilities. "We are on an exciting journey; fully integrating BinckBank, executing on strategy, and not least serving more clients than ever before. The CFO area is crucial for achieving this success and for ensuring strong cost management,” Fournais added.

Following Pedersen’s appointment, the bank says it will divide the chief financial and chief risk officer responsibilities into separate lines of duty to “bolster finance, risk, and governance” at the bank.