Saxo Capital Markets expects Latam retail trading revenues to grow 30% in 2013

Saxo Bank is targeting 30% growth in retail trading revenues from Latin America, following the rebrand of recently acquired Montevideo-based NVN Securities to Saxo Capital Markets on February 27.

Saxo acquired the online broker, which is also a white-label partner, in October, as part of efforts to better service a growing population of clients and partners, say officials.

"The aim of this new office is to develop the business even more and become closer to our customers and their needs," says Luis Pereira, director of Saxo Capital Markets in Montevideo. "We are continuing to expand our offer and adapt it to Latin American investors through our modern multiple assets platform."

Pereira adds that volumes from the region have grown substantially since 2008, as better regulatory oversight legitimises the industry. In particular, he cites Mexico, Colombia and Chile where, combined with an improved economic situation and development of technological infrastructure, a significant and constant increase in trading is being experienced.

Pereira relocated to Montevideo a year ago to work on the acquisition, having headed the Latin American business in Copenhagen from 2008. He declines to say how much the broker was bought for, but says all nine staff of sales, trading support and back office were retained while former chief executive Carlos Perera left.

On purchase, NVN Securities was averaging FX volumes in the region of $2 billion a month, but Pereira has budgeted this to grow by 30% this year, through the extension of its product and services. This includes access to 20,000 financial instruments, including corporate shares traded on more than 30 stock markets, 160 currency pairs, 8,400 CFDs, 1,500 ETFs and ETCs, futures and more.

Pereira is continuing to gear his sales efforts in Mexico, Colombia and Chile. "There are markets where there is some interest such as Peru, but they are still developing," he says.

The acquisition was subject to approval from the Banco Central del Uruguay.