Danish Saxo Bank names new wealth-management head

FWR Staff

16 August 2007

Soeren Mose to help usher in a more open and client-friendly approach to WM. European Saxo Bank has made Soeren Mose its new executive director for private-wealth management. That puts him in charge of the Gentofte, Denmark-based investment bank's private-banking and wealth-management units.

"One of the primary objectives of Saxo Bank's corporate strategy for 2010 is the creation of growth in our private banking and wealth management segments," says Saxo's co-CEO Lars Seier Christensen. "The addition of Soeren Mose will help to bolster Saxo Bank's efforts in both areas."

Mose comes to Saxo from the Swiss subsidiary of Denmark's Jyske Bank, where he was CEO. Prior to leading Jyske's operations in Switzerland, he was in charge of its private-banking business in Gibraltar.

Active wealth management

Kim Fournais, Saxo's other co-CEO, says "Mose has a proven track record in private banking as well as operational leadership of a number of foreign branches at Jyske Bank. These skills are hugely critical to Saxo Bank's continued expansion, as we have a declared strategic priority to expand our trading platform through innovative approaches to active wealth management."

This "active wealth management" comes down to a move toward open architecture in Saxo's investment offerings, goals-based advisory and the use of technology to foster better communication between advisor and client.

"The prevailing market trend is one of clients seeking greater freedom and more objective advisory services," says Mose. "This is where Saxo Bank distinguishes itself from other players on the private-banking market."

Responding to what it describes as "greater demand for private banking and wealth management services," Saxo has been on a bit of an expansion drive over the last year or so with new offices in London, Singapore and Marbella, Spain. It also has an office in Beijing and technology subsidiary in Moscow.

Fifteen-year-old Saxo is named for Saxo Grammaticus, a twelfth-century cleric and Denmark's first historian. If you have a little time on your hands, you can read the first nine books of his Gesta Danorum (in English) here or the whole thing (in Latin) here. -FWR