The latest news about investment offerings, new financial products and services in the Asia-Pacific region.

Saxo Markets, part of the Denmark-listed financial group Saxo Bank, says that it has become the first investment and brokerage organisation to offer bundled pricing packages for clients.

The plans, which are open to all new clients in the Asian city-state, will be made available to existing clients in coming months. New clients who sign up now can enjoy the “Gold” plan for free until 31 March 2022, plus S$88 extra commission credit as a welcome bonus.

The firm said industry research shows that Singaporeans want to be able to open accounts easily, have low fees and mobile access to investments, and that they value more data feeds, free trades and lower custody fees.

“Singaporeans are already familiar with how subscription models work from packages for mobile phones, Netflix and the like. The beauty of these is their simplicity and convenience – and that is exactly what Saxo wants to offer investors,” the firm said in a statement yesterday. 

There are three broad “bundles” of fees and offerings: Gold, Silver, Diamond, Platinum and Bronze.

“I do not believe that clients should have to have their broker sell their flow to hedge funds to get great pricing. Our pricing plans are designed with our clients in mind – for a very reasonable monthly charge, they contain all of the services and access that they have told us they love, and we have also removed the items that they don’t enjoy,” Adam Reynolds, CEO Asia-Pacific, Saxo Markets.

Earlier in November, this news service reported that HSBC in Singapore has adopted the end-to-end, self-directed equity trading infrastructure of Saxo Bank, enabling the banking group to expand its reach to retail investors, including those living overseas.

Saxo Bank is also fond of making “outrageous” predictions about the global economy, markets and politics towards the start of a new year – see here for the latest example.