Ambassador of Ukraine to Denmark visits Saxo

Below, you can read a version of Saxo's Founder and CEO, Kim Fournais, to the Saxo employees about the bank's view on the situation.

Dear Saxonians,

The unprovoked invasion of Ukraine initiated by Putin has created an unreal and terrible situation for Ukraine and its brave people – and for Europe and the world.

How well Ukraine, its leadership and people have managed to keep the aggressive enemy away so far is truly admirable. We extend our full support and thoughts to the proud and courageous people of Ukraine. We all pray they will keep this strong resistance up - and that Putin will soon understand that this is the biggest mistake he ever made.

In the darkness of this terrible situation, it is nonetheless uplifting to see the global support for Ukraine and the help (and sanctions against Russia) that is being mobilised by the international community. 

In the Saxo Bank Group, we have quickly implemented all the new sanctions and last week we put all Russian-linked instruments on reduce-only, meaning clients could only sell existing positions. We of course condemn this completely crazy and aggressive act, where Putin has decided to invade a peaceful country and its innocent people. It is one man's ego against a people who believe in freedom and prosperity.

We all understand that this is an aggression that no (or very few) humans had conceived possible in Europe in 2022. One would have thought (or hoped), that all the wars and the unrests of the past provided enough learning and respect for each other, and not least the lives of innocent people. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and this is an attack on all free people with a very real risk that this could spread into a much bigger conflict. In Saxo, we will do what we can to help and assist our Saxonians and clients, and not least support Ukraine in these very difficult and uncertain times.

Many Saxonians have close family and friends who are impacted by this, and we do understand these are indeed difficult and very emotional times. Let us all try to support and comfort each other.

I want to make it clear too, that we see this aggression coming from Putin, and not the Russian people. This has nothing to do with the many skilled, dedicated, and fantastic people we have working for us in Saxo, nor Russians anywhere else. 

We do not believe in starting wars, but we do believe in protecting innocent people’s lives and fight for freedom, whenever that is needed. When feelings surface in times of unrest, it is more important than ever that we do not give in to the efforts by violent regimes trying to divide us. We need to look past what separates us from one another. Let us try to unite as people that believes in freedom, peace, and prosperity. 

This is not a war between Russia and Ukraine, this is a war started by Putin to the benefit of his ego and unrealistic and unethical dream of building a new empire, based on fear and terror, with everyone else being innocent victims to that.

Best,
Kim