Saxo Capital Markets (HK) Limited, the Hong Kong SFC licensed subsidiary of Copenhagen based Retail FX brokerage group Saxo Bank, has announced the immediate appointment of Richard Douglas as CEO for Saxo Markets in Hong Kong.
Fan Xu, CEO of Greater China at Saxo, will move into the role of CEO, Saxo FinTech, a joint venture between Saxo and Geely, its majority shareholder.
Kim Fournais, CEO and Founder, Saxo Bank, comments:
“We believe that scaling and growing our Hong Kong business is critical to achieving our broader ambitions in the region, including building a strong partnership business. Richard has been an instrumental part of our Group Technology leadership team before, when he was based in Copenhagen. With his experience in the region and robust understanding of the business both on the technology and the commercial front, we are pleased to appoint him as CEO for Hong Kong and look forward togrowing the business.”
“Saxo FinTech is a very important partnership for us and our majority shareholder, Geely, andwith Fan fully dedicating his time to this joint venture, we are confident that Saxo FinTech will continue to grow strongly,” Kim Fournais adds.
Before this appointment, Richard Douglas held the role of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Information Officer (Greater China) at Saxo Markets. In his new role as CEO, Douglas will take on responsibility for both Saxo’s Hong Kong and Shanghai offices, leading the overall business development and strategy of the bank’s commercial activities and further grow the Saxo brand in both markets.
“I am very honoured to take on this appointment. Saxo is on an exciting journey of transformation globally, and in Hong Kong we have a huge opportunity to become more relevant for more people, through our expanded offerings for investors and continued commitment to improving the client experience. As China’s economy and capital markets continue to open up, Saxo is uniquely positioned to continue to connect our clients to global capital market opportunities through the trading and investment opportunities available on our platforms. I look forward to continue to build on the strong foundation set by Fan and the team,” Douglas comments.
Based in Hong Kong, Richard Douglas will report to Adam Reynolds, Asia Pacific CEO, Saxo Markets. Before moving to Denmark in 2017, Douglas was based in Hong Kong for six years and thus has a unique perspective and experience working in Asia. Douglas’ 18+ years of experience has been almost solely in the financial services industry, having previously worked at investment banks Macquarie, Nomura, Citi and UBS in London, Sydney and Hong Kong.
Patrick Chung will succeed Douglas as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Information Officer (Greater China), reporting into Ashok Kalyanswamy, Chief Information Officer, Saxo Bank. He will be responsible for all technology staff, platforms and deliverables in the region.
As CEO of Saxo FinTech, Xu will continue to drive the growth of the JV, which is based in Chongqing, building products and services focused on trading technology, social technology and regulatory technology.
“Saxo FinTech is critical in driving the growth of Saxo in the region, as there is a lot of synergies and opportunities not just with Saxo but also with partners, and where we can provide our offerings as as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). I look forward to advancing the Saxo FinTech business in collaboration with the team and with Richard,” Xu comments.
Echo Zhao, Country Head of China, will be leaving Saxo Group. Saxo said that it would like to sincerely thank Echo for her many years of service across a number of different Saxo offices and wish her the very best in her future endeavours.
