One of the fallouts from the so-called FX chatroom scandal
is that many banks are now petrified of providing their clients with
information. This may well get worse as new rules and regulations, such as the
EU’s looming Market Abuse Regulation and of course MiFID II, come into force.

The reality is that clients still want good content and for
those prepared to offer it, providing market colour could well prove to be a
significant business differentiator. So far, few institutions appear to have
worked out how they can do it. Saxo is one that seems to be claiming it has.

The bank has announced today that its chief economist and
CIO Steen Jakobsen has been appointed as co-head of global sales trading. “The
new setup is aimed at enhancing the delivery of SaxoStrats, Saxo’s real-time global market
insights and tradeable ideas to all client segments globally and further align
this offering with Saxo’s sales efforts,” the firm says.

According to Claus Nielsen, Saxo’s head of markets,
Jakobsen’s additional role will, “create the strongest sales trading and
strategy team possible and provide clients with a superior service in terms of
research, ideas and execution”.

Not so long ago, such a claim would probably have been met
with a patronising snort of derision, at least from some of the so-called big
players. That is probably no longer a fair or valid reaction in an environment
where good information is becoming hard to source. Saxo’s global sales trading
currently has a staff of 20,
which it says provides trade support and advisory services 24–hours a day from Singapore, Copenhagen
and London.