Saxo Bank to Develop Equity Prime Brokerage

Danish-based Saxo bank will expand into equity prime brokerage, and has hired former Deutsche Bank executive Gerard Lelliot to lead the business.

The expansion comes as many of Europe’s leading investment banks are scaling back their prime services, as increased emphasis on profitability and tough capital rules has resulted in banks revaluating their client relationships with smaller firms.

Saxo Prime, which currently provides ‘prime-of-prime’ foreign exchange brokerage for institutional clients, will now expand into the equity and equity derivatives prime brokerage.

Lelliot will lead the unit as head of Listed Securities Product Development, reporting to Matteo Cassina, global head of Sales, Products and Platforms, a spokesperson for Saxo Bank confirmed.

He joins from Deutsche Bank, which is also currently shrinking its prime services unit. He was previously director for Global Product Management, Execution and Clearing, within the bank’s Global Transaction Banking (GTB) division.