Saxo, the leader in online trading and investment, today announces significant pricing changes across many of its key markets, with a global roll out in the coming months.   

Clients will enjoy substantial price reductions, especially when they trade US stocks and home market stocks, amongst other products such as ETFs, ETPs, Listed Options and Futures. The same applies to inactivity and platforms fees that are also removed.

See the prices here

For U.S. and U.K. markets the commission will be 0.08% for the classic tier with minimum commissions at 1 USD (down from 5 USD). The VIP and Platinum client tiers will benefit from 0.05% and 0.03% commissions respectively.

Kim Fournais, founder & CEO of Saxo Bank: “We are proud to announce what will be the leading prices among the major banks and brokers of the world. Because in today's investment landscape, the value Saxo offers to our clients is very much linked to our ability to provide cost-effective solutions together with our award-winning platforms, products, and services. Lower costs mean higher potential gains for our growing number of clients.

As we cross the milestone of serving over 1 million clients who trust us with more than EUR 100 bn., our scale enables us to significantly lower our fees and prices.

“Investors have increasing demands to the overall investment experience and the ability to trade across markets and products on award-winning multi-asset platforms has always been Saxo’s core pedigree. With the lower prices and fees, it’s becoming even easier and more attractive to diversify across asset classes, which is critical to any healthy and profitable portfolio. Diversification is really the “only free lunch” in investing.

“This pricing overhaul is an important strategic move for us for the future, as we take another big step forward to create even more win-win with our clients.”

In 2023, Saxo reached a historic milestone of 1 million end clients and crossed USD 100 billion in client assets globally. In addition, the company, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, was also appointed a Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI) by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA), and received an investment grade rating from S&P. This highlights Saxo’s strong capital position and business model, as well as its cautious approach to risk management.

Liminal, a leading provider of institutional-grade digital asset custody solutions, is pleased to announce the integration of Telos Network into its custody and wallet infrastructure. This strategic move represents a significant leap forward in enhancing the security and efficiency of asset management on the Telos blockchain. Liminal has recognized that secure custody of digital assets is directly correlated with the strength of the underlying blockchain infrastructure. As the demand for alternative blockchain ecosystems and community participation continues to grow, interoperability has become a core integration parameter for custody platforms.

Commenting on the development, Manhar Garegrat, Country Head- India & Global Partnerships at Liminal, expressed his enthusiasm for the integration, stating, "The addition of Telos into Liminal custody's multi-chain ecosystem is a significant step towards growing the web3 ecosystem together.  Telos’ flawless record of zero-downtime since launch, over 15,200 transactions per second with minimal fees, and focus on enabling Zero Knowledge technology for ultimate scalability and privacy for blockchain global adoption, make it a compelling platform for web3 adoption. We are excited to empower projects building on Telos as they leverage Liminal's robust security, world class compliance, regulated custody, process automations and integrations to grow their business on Telos."

Commenting on the development, Sukesh Tedla, Director of Liquidity & Exchanges at Telos Network said “ We are delighted to find a like-minded partner in Liminal. The combined strength of both the brands will not only enhance the digital asset experience for users but also create a highly secure ecosystem for fostering innovation in digital asset custody services. We are committed to creating more synergies with Liminal in the near future.”

By introducing Telos, a third-generation blockchain platform, into our custody and wallet infrastructure, Liminal is enabling secure custody, policy-led workflows, multi-party wallet governance, and comprehensive compliance monitoring for protocols and institutions operating on the Telos Network.

Key Features of Liminal's Integration with Telos Network:

Secure and Efficient Treasury Management: Liminal Custody's robust MPC and Multisig-powered wallet infrastructure provides unparalleled security for Telos-supported assets. This infrastructure ensures that every transaction adheres to stringent security protocols and multi-party authorization requirements, offering granular control over asset management.

Policy-Driven Automation for Optimal Efficiency: Liminal's automation workflows streamline Telos asset management processes. Users can define policy-based transaction processing rules to automate routine tasks, reduce operational overhead, and enhance overall efficiency, aligning with specific risk tolerances and regulatory requirements.

Vigilant Risk and Compliance Monitoring: Liminal Custody's comprehensive risk and compliance monitoring tools mitigate potential risks and ensure regulatory compliance. The platform continuously monitors wallets and transactions for anomalies or potential violations, enabling users to take immediate action to protect their funds and adhere to regulatory standards.

Seamless Integration with Telos and DApp Ecosystem: Liminal's MMI and Wallet Connect integration provide seamless access to a wide range of native Telos and mainstream decentralized applications (DApps). This integration empowers users to capitalize on their Telos asset holdings by accessing a diverse array of DeFi protocols.

Payhawk, and contemporary jewellery brand Astrid & Miyu, are joining forces once again. Payhawk, a leading spend management platform for scale-ups, is proud to sponsor Astrid & Miyu's new podcast series UNBOXED. This collaboration builds on the success of the two companies' year-long relationship, with Payhawk previously being chosen to streamline Astrid & Miyu's global, corporate spend. The partnership represents an impactful alignment between two rising stars in the world of finance and fashion.

The official launch event for UNBOXED will take place on Monday, January 15th. Payhawk's sponsorship of UNBOXED underscores its commitment to supporting the growth of startups and scaleups. UNBOXED gives aspiring entrepreneurs a raw, unfiltered look into the journeys of successful founders, hosted by Astrid & Miyu CEO and Founder, Connie Nam. Past guests have included executives from Neom, Stripe and Stare, Lockdown Liquor, and Saint and Sofia. Episodes feature the biggest mistakes, greatest lessons, and most valuable insights direct from the source. 

Prior to working with Payhawk, Astrid & Miyu had disparate systems for company spend, making month-end reconciliation tedious and time-consuming. As they expanded with new global stores, they sought a scalable solution to provide real time spend visibility. Since implementing Payhawk's unified cards, expenses, accounts payable, and accounting solution in 2023, Astrid & Miyu's processes have transformed. "Simply put, Payhawk has changed the lives of people at Astrid & Miyu!" says Connie Nam, CEO and Founder of Astrid & Miyu. "When it came to the podcast, we wanted to collaborate with strategic partners that we feel genuinely aligned with and can authentically promote to an entrepreneurial audience. Given the value we've gained from Payhawk, they were an obvious choice when looking for a sponsor for our podcast." 

Payhawk CEO Hristo Borisov says, "Growing a business from a startup to a global company comes with many challenges that can be solved by introducing effective systems at the right time. We're thrilled that our platform has transformed business processes for Astrid & Miyu since they implemented it last year."

Payhawk combines company cards, expense management, accounts payable, and accounting software integrations in one seamless product. This consolidated solution simplifies financial operations for high-growth companies as they scale globally.

UK and US-based fintech Detected has secured $2.5m in its latest fundraising, including investment from existing investors Thomson Reuters Ventures, Love Ventures, and powerful industry angels.

The new funding will allow Detected to continue to build category-defining technology and will be invested in a growth strategy following a successful year in 2023.

Reinventing the traditional approach to business, customer, and merchant onboarding, Detected has built a reputation as a leader in the high-growth business onboarding industry and is trusted by the biggest names in payments. From being crowned number one in the RegTech 50 last year to winning the Fintech Innovator Award, Detected’s product and team have been recognized by the industry, most recently being named in the prestigious Startups 100 Index for 2024.

In an industry dominated by legacy players, Detected has secured the support of enterprise partners and clients due to its innovative approach to a $12bn a year problem.

Tamara Steffens, Managing Director, Thomson Reuters Ventures stated:

"We’re reinvesting in Detected because we strongly believe in the company's long-term potential. As customers, we have seen first-hand the technology's impact, and we're excited about the momentum that Detected has developed in the market." 

Marcus Love, Co-founder and General Partner at Love Ventures added: 

“Since day one, we have known that tackling the monolith that is business onboarding was going to be a huge challenge and we remain convinced that Liam and the Detected team have what it takes to change this industry for the better.”

Liam Chennells Co-founder and CEO at Detected commented:

“This investment round further confirms our continued progress and sets us up for the next phase of our growth as we deepen relationships with enterprise clients and rapidly increase the volume of payments businesses we work with.”

Detected is reinventing how companies undertake onboarding validation at speed, at a lower cost, and with reduced risk. The London and New York-based company wants to be the industry standard for how best to onboard a business. Last year, Thomson Reuters and Love Ventures invested $3m into Detected to grow its US offering where it opened a new office. 

Despite declines in 2023 of investment into US and UK fintech* due to inflation, increased interest rates, geopolitical issues, and other macroeconomic conditions all hitting valuations and deal activity, Detected’s latest raise highlights the momentum and consistency behind the business, which lists acquirers & processors, payment networks, BNPL companies, issuers, gateways and ISO & MSPs amongst its international client base.

Korr, an insurtech startup based in New York City, announces the closing of a $3.2 million seed funding round. The round was led by Motive Ventures along with Tokio Marine Future Fund, marking a significant step in Korr's journey to modernize insurance technology. Early investors include Plug and Play Ventures.

Founded in 2021, Korr's cloud-native core operating system migrates on-premise legacy systems to the cloud, improving customer experience and slashing operational expenditure. Korr's platform is specifically crafted to reduce switching costs and enable carriers to effortlessly convert their historical data to the cloud. The company is designed to address the challenges faced by insurance carriers, offering a flexible and efficient solution to modernize their existing infrastructure. Currently Korr is undertaking a large transformation initiative including system replacement using Korr's proprietary technology for a TPA in the US insurance market.

Gregory Ritchie, CEO and Founder of Korr, stated, "We started Korr two years ago with the thesis that cloud-native architecture and innovation will drive positive change in insurance, particularly in the post-COVID workplace and marketplace. We have invented a forward-thinking product that drives competitive advantage, cutting legacy costs and constraints, and converting decades of historical data out-of-the-box. We continue to execute on our vision, building Korr on AWS along with our early corporate design partners."

Harsh Govil, Principal at Motive Ventures, commented, "As fintech investors, we are acutely aware of how much of financial services and insurance remain dependent on decades-old tech that makes innovation a challenge. Simple updates to financial or insurance products are costly and take months to implement. We're excited to support the Korr team in building a next-generation platform to transform insurance data and business processes with a highly flexible cloud-native architecture."

Robert Pick, EVP & Chief Information Officer at Tokio Marine North America Services, commented, "Our Tokio Marine companies around the world have adopted solutions appropriate to their products and market, creating a heterogenous landscape to manage and integrate. Korr's approach is focused on ease of integration and ease of migration, in a cloud-native package, which can fit nicely in a variety of complex environments. Being able to "play well with others" is vital for modern core systems."

Steve Pretre, who led the investment for Tokio Marine Future Fund, stated, "There is a large portion of the insurance industry that still runs on legacy technology, often home grown. With the major existing insurance core platforms, those migrations can cost tens of millions of dollars or more. For many books of business that cost does not make economic sense, leaving them marooned. Recent attempts from Insurtechs to launch new core systems have focused on enabling the launch of new, often simplistic products and are not suited to the complexity of legacy system migration. Korr is the first product and team we have seen that has focused on building a highly standardized platform designed to enable effective migration of these legacy systems to a modern cloud architecture. It is a solution the industry desperately needs."

Pier has raised $2.4 million in an oversubscribed round to develop its technology that helps businesses launch credit products.

The company’s “Stripe for credit” solution automates every aspect of the credit lifecycle, including origination, underwriting, compliance, and servicing, Jessica Zhang, CEO and co-founder of Pier, said in a Thursday post on LinkedIn.

“At Plaid, Stilt, and J.P. Morgan, Alex Hegevall Clarke and I saw firsthand how the credit industry struggles with fragmented solutions and high compliance hurdles,” Zhang said in the post. “With stringent federal and state regulations across 50 states, building an in-house tech stack capable of handling compliance becomes a time-consuming and expensive endeavor, often takes 9-12 months and costs millions.”

Pier aims to solve this problem with its technology, according to the post. The company’s recent round included investors Y Combinator, Liquid 2 Ventures, HorizonVC, ACME Capital, customers, and strategic angels.

Pier’s solution enables companies to launch or automate their credit products in weeks, rather than months, according to the company’s website.

With application programming interface (API)-driven, flexible modules, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution allows developers to get it up and running with a few lines of code, the website said.

Popular use cases for the solution include buy now, pay later (BNPL), credit builder, salary advance, and commercial working capital, per the website.

“Companies and borrowers suffer because there is no dedicated modern credit and compliance solutions with a developer-centric approach,” the Pier website said. “Our mission at Pier is to build the best-in-class tools for the next generation of innovators to improve access to credit.”

Nayms is pleased to announce that it has launched on Base. Nayms is the world's leading blockchain-based marketplace for alternative risk transfer and capitalization. Base is a secure, low-cost, Ethereum layer-2 solution. With this launch, investors can more easily access yield-generating (re)insurance opportunities that are available within Nayms' marketplace in the form of a tokenized asset class.

Embarking on the heels of a successful launch of its first investment opportunities, Nayms remains committed to deploying emerging technologies to reshape the insurance industry. The first product to go live on Base will be an Industry Loss Warranty (ILW) contract, reinsuring against certain weather-related catastrophic events in Florida. Within a Bermuda-regulated segregated account structure, institutional investors can earn a yield on their capital, targeting mid-high teen returns, paid by (re)insurance premiums by real (re)insureds who need their risk covered. For early investors, the yield is complemented by an additional reward of NAYM-issued tokens equivalent to up to 15% of invested capital.

As the insurance industry evolves, tokenization offers a unique opportunity for institutional investors to diversify their investment portfolios and capitalize on the growth of traditional private market asset classes. Nayms' opportunities offer investments into (re)insurance for property and casualty (P&C) risks like Cyber, Errors and Omissions, Directors and Officers coverage, crime/specie and various Industry Loss Warranty products. This exposure is typically only available to pension funds, private equity funds, and other major institutional investors. Nayms is making this exposure available to all qualified investors through tokenization, accessible in their wallets.

Some of the benefits of tokenized (re)insurance exposure for qualified investors include:

• Diversification of returns from the broader crypto market
• Access to historically hard-to-access private markets exposure, now in a tokenized wrapper
• Access to high-yield returns with liquidity and low volatility
• Safety and security of the decentralized Ethereum network but at a low cost, faster settlement time of the Base L2
• Fast user onboarding through KYC automation utilizing verified identity standards of Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS) built into open-sourced identity on Ethereum

It's time to bring institutional investors the benefits of Web3 technology powering their traditional asset-class investment options. Interested users can learn more by visiting Nayms and connecting their self-hosted wallet on the Base network.

"We are excited to be launching on Base, our first Ethereum Layer 2 network. Our deployment was seamless as it is fully EVM compliant and we look forward to leveraging the reduced fees and easy onramp that Base provides," stated Nayms Co-Founder and CTO, Ted Georgas.

The ILW market is a vital component of the global catastrophe reinsurance market, a market generating over $300 billion in annual renewal premiums. This market offers substantial opportunities for insurers, insureds, and investors alike.

Nayms' ILW introduces a novel approach, safeguarding buyers against the peril of named windstorms in Florida. To trigger indemnification, two independent named windstorms in Florida must each separately cause damage exceeding $10 billion to the state's insured property during the 2024 in-force period. Nayms' innovation lies in the use of USD Coin (USDC) as collateral within the segregated account on its independently audited Ethereum smart contract. This collateral is further secured through innovative mechanisms, including a digital multi-signature process, enhancing transparency and operational efficiency.

iDenfy, a Lithuania-based RegTech company offering automated identity verification and fraud prevention solutions, announced a new partnership with Standard de Liège, a leading Belgium-based football club of the Belgian league. iDenfy will help the football club ensure a secure online registration process by verifying official club members and member card holders. 

The potential of advanced technology extends beyond all benefits, such as user experience and commercial opportunities. According to iDenfy, the rising challenge of online crime isn’t just a one-industry issue, it’s now also relevant in professional sports. A recent report by the National Cyber Security Centre revealed that 70% of sports organizations encounter at least one cyberattack annually. To solve this issue, iDenfy suggests implementing Know Your Customer (KYC) tools. According to Domantas Ciulde, iDenfy’s CEO, identity verification not only streamlines the registration process for football clubs and their fans but also reduces opportunities for fraudsters who might want to bypass authentication for multiple account fraud and other unlawful activities. 

iDenfy’s new partner, Standard de Liège, agrees with this security-first approach, claiming that their partnership will help address and mitigate major security issues that tarnish the reputation of the football industry. The Belgian football club will use iDenfy’s full-stack KYC software to enable digital identity and revolutionize its online registration process for supporters who want to join the club’s exclusive membership program. This includes a fully remote registration process, building a more straightforward flow, and empowering the club to boost online ticket and merchandise sales.

After completing the online registration process, Standard de Liège club supporters will attain an official membership status and receive a members-only card, which functions as a designated pass on match days. Additionally, according to the football club, this digital card is a convenient payment method for all the fans’ purchases at the stadium, offering long-term usability. According to Ciulde, after welcoming legitimate, verified members, the football club will be able to track incidents and minimize undesirable activities witnessed in and around football stadiums. As the CEO of iDenfy explains, those who have committed offenses on sports fields and faced sanctions from authorities are prohibited from attending sporting events. For this reason, ID verification ensures the safety of all participants attending the football games.

As claimed by Standard de Liège, ticket fraud is another issue that leads to financial losses, however, by identifying all members of its membership card holders, the football club aims to solve this issue. iDenfy’s four-step identity verification solution instantly extracts personal information from any government-issued ID document, ensuring that the person isn’t using a fake profile to register on the online platform. Such a remote onboarding process helps identify perpetrators and ensure that all members buying tickers and conducting transactions in the stadium are genuine, this way, minimizing the risk of fraud within Standard de Liège’s digital environment and the physical stadium for all supporters using the membership pass. 

It’s worth noting that iDenfy’s verification software supports more than 3000 types of different documents from 200 countries and territories. Powered by advanced facial recognition algorithms, the solution detects the use of facemasks, 3D renderings, deepfakes, and other attempts to pass the KYC process fraudulently. With many customization and simple plugin integration options, iDenfy offers a straightforward onboarding process without adding unnecessary friction. With this partnership, iDenfy will safeguard  Standard de Liège and its dedicated fans from fraud while providing a competitive advantage in the sports industry.

“With the growing sales of online tickets and the dedicated fanbase of Standard de Liège, we are honored to provide our identity verification services and enhance the level of security in the sports and entertainment environment.”  — added Domantas Ciulde, the CEO of iDenfy. 

ClearBank, the enabler of real-time clearing and embedded banking for financial institutions, today announced the appointment of Paul Staples as Group Head of Embedded Banking and Nick Ford as Group Head of Channels and Alliances.

Paul has had a 20-year career in banking, and building technology businesses across multiple industries. He is an active commentator and advocate for safe and well-regulated embedded banking. Paul has also founded several technology companies over the years, from oil and gas marketplaces to building a SaaS platform that solves the complexity of the logistics for ports and construction sites. Paul will be responsible for developing the embedded banking business at ClearBank as it expands into Europe.

Before joining ClearBank, Paul was an Embedded Banking advisor to several private equity and venture capital firms and was formerly one of the Founding Executive team of HSBC’s Global Embedded Banking business. At HSBC, he was charged with building and scaling the business by solving complex banking needs for customers and, in doing so, unlocking value for all parties involved. 

“ClearBank’s technology, coupled with the strength of a well-funded, responsibly led, and unquestionably compliant bank, is a great combination when it comes to delivering embedded banking,” said Paul Staples, Group Head of Embedded Banking at ClearBank. “Finding deep value through new propositions that no one has conceived before or considered too hard is an exciting opportunity and the ClearBank team is well positioned to deliver on this.”

Nick Ford joins ClearBank having spent over 15 years within SaaS and Risk Managed Services and was previously Vice President of Global Alliances for 6 years at Encompass Corporation, a leader in dynamic KYC Automation. During this time, he established global partner relationships across the UK, Europe, Australia, and North America, responsible for driving indirect revenue from partners as well as driving revenue to the direct sales team.

“I'm focused on building out a global strategy that will drive indirect channel revenue while expanding on ClearBank’s current partner ecosystem as we move into Europe,” said Nick Ford, Group Head of Channels and Alliances at ClearBank. “I’m thrilled to join ClearBank during this exciting stage and eager to place our new and existing valued partners at the forefront of our growth trajectory.”

“It’s fantastic to have both Paul and Nick on board; they bring a wealth of experience to their newly created roles and join us at a pivotal time for ClearBank. With expansion into Europe planned this year, I’m looking forward to seeing what we’ll achieve from building on our new and existing partnerships and further developing our industry-leading embedded banking offering” said Andrew Barker, Chief Revenue Officer at ClearBank.