Investing in markets is best way to fight inflation, says new Saxo Singapore CEO

SAXO, a global investing and trading firm, has appointed Mahesh Sethuraman as Singapore CEO to take the helm of its operations here. 

Concurrently, the Copenhagen-headquartered firm has appointed Damian Hitchen as regional head of Asia-Pacific (Apac) and Middle East and North Africa (Mena) regions. Having led Saxo’s Mena business since 2021, he will now develop and further grow the company’s presence in the areas.

This comes after Adam Reynolds, previously Apac and Singapore CEO of Saxo, stepped down after a decade. Reynolds played an important role in consolidating the company’s presence in the Apac region.

Sethuraman joined the company in 2018 and most recently headed the firm’s global sales trading team, Saxo said on Tuesday (Nov 12).

It added: “With over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, Sethuraman brings to the role a deep understanding of financial markets, Singapore’s investing landscape, and Saxo’s market-leading range of global investment products.”

Founded in Copenhagen in 1992, Saxo was established with the goal of making global financial markets more accessible. In 1998, the company launched one of Europe’s first online trading platforms, providing professional-grade tools and broad access to global markets for individual investors.

Saxo’s Singapore office, the company’s second-largest outside of its Danish headquarters and after Amsterdam, was set up in 2006 and has grown over the years here. 

“Upside potential”

Sethuraman said he is looking to “drive the next phase of growth” for Saxo Singapore together with deputy CEO and COO Thomas Qvistgaard Hansen, as well as the wider team.

He told The Business Times on the sidelines of the Singapore FinTech Festival last week that he had joined Saxo because he could see the “upside potential” of a digital platform and his relationship with the firm started more than a decade ago when he was a client on the buy side.

As Singapore CEO, he wants to create a broader awareness about the importance of staying engaged with the markets.

“We can focus on how to split the pie later, but the size of the pie must grow, and that can only happen if we keep reiterating the message that the best way to fight inflation is to invest in the financial markets,” he said.

Sethuraman’s vision for Saxo is to provide personalised insights that keep clients well-informed, enabling them to make better investment decisions.

He explained that the primary cost of investing is the price of the shares purchased, while additional fees, such as broker commissions, are secondary. The real value, he emphasised, lies in helping clients make more informed decisions throughout the investment process.

“Without getting too paternalistic, the best way to do it is to keep reiterating the message that no matter what happens in the market, no matter how much conviction you have, you have to stay diversified,” he said.

Looking at the current trading landscape, Sethuraman noted that established players are struggling to match the prices offered by emerging competitors. 

Saxo, however, is in a favourable position: competitive, yet not focused on being the cheapest. The objective, he pointed out, is to compete by improving the quality of service and the investment experience, rather than simply cutting prices.

“We are still primarily a capital markets fintech, which essentially means that we give access to public markets for people to make their investments. For the foreseeable future, we will continue to be focusing on that space and not move too much into the digital asset space,” he added.