Saxo Bank review: fees, safety and who it suits in 2026

Saxo is a Danish bank and multi-asset online broker that took over BinckBank and now serves Dutch and Belgian clients through local branches of Saxo Bank A/S. Our verdict: a strong choice if you live in the Netherlands or Belgium and want a licensed bank with wide market access, but a €2 minimum per trade and the lack of a German or Irish offer mean many investors are better off elsewhere.

We checked Saxo’s Dutch price list, legal pages and regulator records on 23 October 2026. This Saxo Bank review covers Saxo Bank A/S for EU residents; UK residents are served by a separate company, Saxo Capital Markets UK Ltd, which is regulated by the FCA.

Saxo Bank review: the short verdict

Saxo Bank is a good broker for experienced investors in the Netherlands and Belgium who want more than a single ETF: bonds, options, futures and global equities on many stock exchanges, in one account at a systemically important bank. The main catch is cost on small orders: the 0.08% commission has a €2 minimum on Euronext, so a €100 buy costs 2%.

• Best for: Dutch and Belgian residents, investors who want market access beyond the big European and US exchanges, and savers who use the €0 AutoInvest ETF savings plan.
• Biggest drawback: percentage pricing with minimums, a 0.25% currency conversion fee, no crypto and no fractional trading outside AutoInvest.
• Look elsewhere if: you live in Germany or Ireland, you only buy one ETF a month, or you want crypto in the same app.

Is Saxo licensed and available where you live?

Saxo Bank A/S is a licensed bank, authorised by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) under licence number 1149 since 2001. Clients in the Netherlands and Belgium are served by Dutch and Belgian branches of that same Danish bank.

Netherlands and Belgium

Saxo Netherlands (Saxo Nederland) is the Dutch branch of Saxo Bank A/S, registered with DNB and the AFM. It is the former BinckBank: Saxo bought BinckBank about five years before the 2024 merger, when the Dutch bank was folded into Saxo Bank A/S. Since then, Dutch and Belgian clients fall under the Danish banking licence instead of a Dutch one.

The Belgian branch, Saxo België, is registered with the NBB and FSMA. Both countries have a local website and a local price list.

Germany and Ireland

We found no local Saxo site or price list for Germany or Ireland. In July 2024 Saxo told its partners it would stop onboarding new direct clients in a list of non-core countries, but keep serving EU states including Germany and Ireland. Whether German and Irish residents can open a Saxo account in 2026, and on what terms, we could not confirm. Until Saxo publishes a German or Irish offer, investors there have clearer options; see our broker overview.

What is Saxo Bank?

Saxo Bank was founded in 1992 and is based in Copenhagen, with a Dutch office in Amsterdam. It is a bank, not just a broker: in 2023 the Danish FSA designated Saxo Bank a systemically important financial institution (SIFI), which brings stricter capital requirements.

Ownership changed in 2026. J. Safra Sarasin Group completed the purchase of about 71% of Saxo Bank in March 2026, after approval from the Swiss regulator FINMA and the Danish FSA. Founder Kim Fournais kept about 28% and became chairman. For clients, the licence, the deposit protection and the custody set-up stayed the same.

Through its web platform and mobile app, Saxo Group gives access to global financial markets: stocks, ETFs, bonds, funds, options, futures and CFDs. It is a multi-asset broker for investors who want many asset classes in one place, rather than a minimalist app.

Saxo Bank fees: the fee structure explained

Saxo charges a percentage per trade with a minimum and a maximum, a 0.25% currency conversion fee and a small monthly service fee; there is no custody fee in the Netherlands. The table shows the Saxo fees from the Dutch price list for the standard Bronze tier.

Saxo uses a tiered pricing model with three account tiers. Silver, from €200,000, lowers the rate to 0.05%; Gold, from €1 million, to 0.03%. Most investors will stay on Bronze, so all examples below use Bronze rates.

Saxo trading fees with worked examples

The 0.08% rate looks low, but on orders under €2,500 the €2 minimum on Euronext applies, because 0.08% of €2,500 is exactly €2. Here is what typical orders cost:

For a €500 one-off buy, Saxo’s €2 compares with €3 at DEGIRO on Euronext (€2 plus a €1 handling fee) and €1 at Trade Republic with Best Price. On larger orders the gap narrows: at €5,000 Saxo charges €4, and the €150 maximum caps costs on very large trades. In short, Saxo’s trading fees are reasonable for larger orders, and lower fees are available elsewhere for small ones.

Currency conversion on US stocks

Saxo charges 0.25% when it converts euros into another currency, for example to buy US stocks. That is a meaningful part of your transaction costs on a US trade.

Example: you buy €1,000 of a US stock. The currency conversion costs €2.50 (0.25%), and the commission is 0.08% of the dollar value with a $1 minimum, which on this size is the $1 minimum (under €1). In total you pay about €3.50, and when you sell and convert back, you pay the conversion fee again on the proceeds.

Custody fees, the service fee and other account charges

Saxo charges no custody fees for accounts in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. In other countries, a custody fee of 0.09% to 0.15% can apply if you don’t take part in securities lending, a programme where the bank can lend securities from your account to other parties. That is one reason Saxo’s terms differ by country, and why you should check all the details for your own residence.

Instead of a custody fee, Dutch accounts pay a service fee of 0.01% a month on portfolio value (derivatives excluded), capped at €40 a month. Saxo refunds it the next month as trading credit, which is valid for one month. The catch: the credit only helps if you pay commission that month.

• €10,000 portfolio: €1 a month, €12 a year if you don’t trade.
• €50,000 portfolio: €5 a month, €60 a year if you don’t trade.
• €400,000 or more: the €40 monthly cap applies.

If you trade frequently, the credit covers part of your purchase fees and the service fee costs you nothing. If you only buy through AutoInvest, which costs €0 per buy, there is nothing to offset, so the service fee works out at 0.12% a year.

Other charges: there are no inactivity fees, withdrawing cash costs nothing from Saxo’s side (intermediary banks can charge), and moving securities to another broker costs €25 per line in the Netherlands. The Belgian site lists €75 per line.

Interest on uninvested cash

Saxo pays 0% interest on uninvested cash below €100,000 per currency account. Only Gold-tier clients earn interest from €100,000: the Saxo benchmark rate (based on €STR) minus 1%. If you keep a cash buffer, a bank savings account or a broker that pays interest on cash will do more for you.

AutoInvest: Saxo’s ETF savings plan

AutoInvest is Saxo’s ETF savings plan: monthly buys of selected ETFs and funds cost €0 from a euro account, with no minimum amount. It runs once a month, on the 4th or the 28th, and it can buy fractions of some ETFs and funds, which normal Saxo trading doesn’t offer.

Worked example: you invest €100 a month through AutoInvest. Over a year that is €1,200 invested with €0 in buy commission. If your portfolio averages €5,000 that year, the service fee is about €0.50 a month, so roughly €6 a year that you only get back if you also place paid trades. Selling AutoInvest holdings costs standard rates, so selling €1,200 of a Euronext-listed ETF costs the €2 minimum.

AutoInvest suits a saver who wants a free monthly ETF plan inside a bank with wider market access for later. If you only ever want a monthly ETF plan, our guide to the best ETF brokers compares cheaper and simpler options.

Saxo investment products: what you can buy and trade

Saxo offers a wide product range for European investors: stocks and ETFs on many exchanges, bonds, mutual funds, options, futures and CFDs. What it does not offer in the Netherlands is crypto: the Dutch site lists no crypto-assets or crypto ETPs.

• Stocks and ETFs: European and US stocks plus other markets, with Euronext and Xetra pricing in the table above.
• Bonds: available to buy and sell, unlike at eToro or Bitpanda.
• Funds: mutual funds, also available in AutoInvest.
• Options, futures, turbos and CFDs: for experienced traders who understand leverage and risk management.
• Fractional trading: only through AutoInvest; regular trades are whole shares.

Is Saxo Bank safe? Licence, deposit protection and client assets

No broker is free of risk, but Saxo Bank’s protection rests on three layers: a Danish banking licence with SIFI supervision, a deposit guarantee for cash and separated custody for securities. Here is how each works for Dutch clients.

Deposit protection for your cash

Cash at Saxo counts as a bank deposit at Saxo Bank A/S, so it falls under the Danish Depositor and Investor Guarantee Scheme (Garantiformuen). That scheme covers up to €100,000 per depositor, also for clients of the Dutch and Belgian branches. This is the Danish scheme, not the Dutch one: as DNB explains, deposits at a branch of a foreign EU bank fall under that bank’s home-country scheme. The €100,000 limit is the same across the European Union.

Securities and client assets

Your shares and ETFs are not on the bank’s balance sheet. For Dutch clients, Euronext-listed securities are held under the Dutch Wge regime, and other securities via Bewaarbedrijf BinckBank B.V., a custody entity whose only task is safekeeping. Both stay outside Saxo’s estate if the bank goes bankrupt.

If financial assets still can’t be returned, the Danish scheme covers up to €20,000. Like every investor compensation scheme, it never covers price losses on your investments.

Track record

Saxo’s recent regulatory history in our records is structural rather than disciplinary: the SIFI designation in 2023, the merger of the Dutch bank into Saxo Bank A/S in 2024 and the approved change of control in 2026. We did not find fines in the sources we checked, but we have not yet reviewed the Danish FSA’s full enforcement history, and we will update this Saxo Bank review when we have. That is why Saxo scores 9 out of 10 for protection, not 10; see how we score.

Saxo account opening, deposits and the app

To open a Saxo account you apply online, verify your identity and fund the account by iDEAL or bank transfer. Saxo’s Dutch pages don’t state a minimum deposit.

• Cash deposits: iDEAL from your linked account (up to €49,999 per transfer) or a bank transfer, usually processed as an instant payment.
• Withdrawals: free from Saxo; intermediary banks may charge.
• Account types: we couldn’t confirm on Saxo’s Dutch pages whether joint accounts or children’s accounts are offered, so ask Saxo before you apply.
• App: Saxo has a mobile app and web platforms. Its trading capabilities are broad, which also means more screens and settings than an app built only for ETF savings.
• Support: phone on weekdays (+31 20 225 5900), plus chat and tickets in Dutch from 08:00 to 18:30 and in English from 18:30 to 22:00.

For experienced investors the tools are a strength. For a first-time investor who wants easy access and nothing else, the range can feel like more than you need.

Tax reporting in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany

Saxo’s tax help depends on where you live: Dutch clients get an annual overview for box 3, the Belgian branch says it settles Belgian taxes, and German tax handling is unverified.

• Netherlands: every year around mid-February, Saxo provides a Fiscaal jaaroverzicht with start and end values, dividends and interest. You use it to fill in box 3 of your tax return. We couldn’t confirm a pre-filled return. In 2026, box 3 taxes a fixed notional return of 6.00% on investments held on 1 January at 36%, after a tax-free allowance of €59,357 per person.
• Belgium: the Belgian branch says Belgian taxes are settled for clients. We could not confirm the exact scope (stock exchange tax, withholding tax and the capital gains tax that applies from 2026).
• Germany: we could not verify whether Saxo withholds Abgeltungsteuer. Brokers without a German withholding set-up leave you to declare gains yourself in your tax return.

Who Saxo is for, and who should look elsewhere

Saxo suits experienced investors in the Netherlands and Belgium who want one bank for stocks, ETFs, bonds and derivatives, and high net worth investors who reach the Silver or Gold tier. It is less suited to beginners with small amounts.

Saxo is a good fit if you:

• live in the Netherlands or Belgium and want local support and tax paperwork;
• want market access to many stock exchanges, bonds or options;
• value a licensed bank with SIFI status;
• invest monthly through AutoInvest and also place larger trades.

Look elsewhere if you:

• live in Germany or Ireland, where Saxo has no local offer;
• mostly buy €100 to €500 at a time, where a flat fee of €1 is cheaper;
• want crypto or fractional shares on every trade;
• want interest on uninvested cash below €100,000.

Saxo vs other brokers

Several other brokers beat Saxo on one point each, so pick by goal. Here is how it compares with the alternatives most European investors consider:

• Interactive Brokers: the closest match for multi-market access, with options, futures, bonds and crypto. Its Fixed plan charges 0.05% with a €3 minimum on European stocks, and it serves all EU states via its Irish entity. Better for Germany and Ireland.
• DEGIRO: €2 plus a €1 handling fee on Euronext, and €0 plus €1 for its ETF core selection. Cheaper for some ETFs, but no AutoInvest-style plan.
• Trade Republic: €1 per order with Best Price, €0 savings plans and interest on cash. Simpler and cheaper for small amounts, with fewer markets.
• eToro: an app for stocks and crypto with social features, but a 0.75% currency conversion fee and USD balances. Saxo is the stronger choice for bonds and long-term portfolio construction.

The bottom line

Saxo Bank gives Dutch and Belgian investors a systemically important bank with wide market access, €0 AutoInvest ETF buys and €100,000 deposit protection. The trade-off is percentage pricing with a €2 minimum, a 0.25% currency conversion fee and a service fee that only comes back as trading credit. If you live in the Netherlands or Belgium and want more than a single ETF, Saxo is worth a look; for small monthly amounts or for Germany and Ireland, a simpler broker fits better.