GENTOFTE, Denmark, Oct. 18, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Effective November 1, Saxo Bank will abolish the minimum ticket fee and percent commission on Danish stocks, becoming the first Scandinavian bank to move to zero-commission online share trading.
Saxo Bank's announcement comes nearly a year after the online bank launched a fierce price war on Danish share trading, pitting it against traditional Danish retail banks that had long dominated the domestic market and revolutionizing price options for Danish online traders.
"We regard Saxo Bank as a market trendsetter in many respects, and have opted to take the lead in this matter as well, by extending an offer to our customers to trade stocks online free of charge on the local market. This places us at the absolute global vanguard in passing along the benefits of increased competition and better efficiency in online trading to consumers," says co-CEO Lars Seier Christensen.
Last week, Bank of America announced that it would introduce free online trading to selected clients on the U.S. market. Saxo Bank's announcement marks the first such move on the Scandinavian market, placing the bank at the global forefront of a trend toward shrinking commissions.
Adds co-CEO Kim Fournais: "We had actually considered moving to zero-commission for quite some time, based on our belief that the market as a whole is headed toward smaller and smaller commissions. When we saw Bank of America's initiative, and witnessed for ourselves the huge level of interest it generated in Denmark, we decided not to wait any longer."
Lars Seier Christensen offers that while Saxo Bank will first evaluate the results of zero-commission trading on the Danish market, there is a distinct possibility for further rollouts of the concept in other countries, possibly throughout Scandinavia.
Saxo Bank's zero-commission trading offer extends to existing Danish retail clients as well as new clients with a minimum account balance of DKK 50,000. These clients can trade online with zero-commission up to 50 times per month on the Danish stock market.