Saxo opens access to its trading infrastructure with the launch of OpenAPI

Leads industry evolution by facilitating tailored user experiences within trading and investing.

Saxo Bank, the multi-asset trading and investment specialist, is one of the first financial institutions to give access to its trading infrastructure through the bank’s new REST based API called open API. The move, which covers Saxo’s multi-asset trading and back office infrastructure, will allow its partners, clients and external developers to access over 20 years of trading infrastructure innovation and enable them to customise their trading experience and create new revenue streams.

The REST-based API will become available to developers allowing them to build tailor-made apps on Saxo Bank’s infrastructure. It will further allow Saxo’s institutional clients, including white label partners, to integrate Saxo’s trading and investing capabilities directly into their own applications and systems.

The Saxo OpenAPI will be unveiled at a conference today in Singapore, which also coincides with the launch of Saxo Markets, the bank’s institutional business built around its three global hubs of Singapore, London and Copenhagen.

Matteo Cassina, Head of Business Lines, Saxo Bank, said: “This is a step change not just for Saxo but for our industry as a whole. Our commitment is underpinned by our mission to democratise trading and make markets more efficient through innovation. For a long time the industry has grappled with the dilemma of building versus buying, but the pace of technological change has made it impossible for institutions to maintain an edge when it comes to innovation. The result is a paradigm shift from a business-to-customer economy to a so-called collaborative economy.

“The accelerated adoption of technology and the increase in mobile business-to-customer interaction presents a huge growth opportunity for our partners, offering the potential to multiply trading volumes, create new revenue streams and protect their businesses against rapid digital change,” added Cassina.

The Saxo OpenAPI is the foundation of SaxoTraderGO, the next generation platform launched by Saxo earlier this year which has already seen 30% of Saxo’s own clients migrate to the new platform. The platform will be available in October to Saxo’s white label clients, consisting of over 120 financial institutions globally already using Saxo’s technology to facilitate trading for their end clients.

Christian Hammer, Head of Platforms, Saxo Bank, said: “REST is already widespread among tech giants who have built entire business models around Open API. The financial industry however has been late to the party. Some banks already offer access to third party developers to build specific features or apps but we are offering much deeper functionality and access to our entire trading infrastructure. We are essentially decoupling our infrastructure from the user experience to become a trading facilitator.”

The OpenAPI will cover the whole trading lifecycle including access to over 30,000 instruments, the ability to monitor positions, balances and margin from a single API. To enable external developers to program against the OpenAPI Saxo is launching a Developers Portal with comprehensive documentation, libraries, sample code and technical support. OpenAPI uses SignalR and WebSockets to achieve the best possible performance and lowest latency. For authentication and security control the OpenAPI also uses a combination of industry proven SAML and OAuth 2.0 protocols.