Saxo Bank, parent company of Saxo Markets, becomes first bank to earn a Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) STAR Level 2 for its Investment Infrastructure as a Service offering

• Saxo Bank, the parent company of Saxo Markets in Hong Kong, becomes the first bank in the world to earn the Cloud Security Alliance STAR Level 2 Attestation and Trusted Cloud Provider accreditation.
• It is a clear testament to Saxo’s successful technology transformation journey.

HONG KONG, 16 June 2021 – Saxo Markets, the online trading and investment specialist, is pleased to announce that its parent company, Saxo Bank, is the first licensed bank and financial institution in the world to receive the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Security, Trust & Assurance Registry (STAR) Level 2 Attestation and Trusted Cloud Provider accreditation.

This milestone in the bank’s technology aspirations means Saxo qualifies for and adheres to the highest and most comprehensive principles in terms of transparency, privacy, security and harmonisation of standards across its IT systems, services and infrastructure that supports the business and different client segments from back-office systems to open APIs. The CSA STAR Level 2 attestation is verified and validated by a third-party auditor.

“We are proud that Saxo became the first bank to earn a CSA Star Level 2. This is an important acknowledgment of the strength, power, and security of our business model, and also shows our strong commitment to holistic security. We are confident that it will help further accelerate Saxo’s growth as a capital markets solutions provider for partners looking to run their trading and investment infrastructure as a Service. And we’ll continue to raise the bar in the financial industry in terms of transparency, trust, and security,” Richard Douglas, Hong Kong CEO, Saxo Markets, comments.

“For Saxo Markets, this accreditation enhances transparency and trust, as well as further reducing the complexity for Saxo’s new and existing partners. We are well into an ambitious journey to deliver all our digital services from the cloud, based on a microservices infrastructure providing us with the ability to launch new features much faster and more securely. The benefit is a shorter time to market, more robust infrastructure and much more agile, scalable and flexible platform,” Patrick Chung, Chief Information Officer & Chief Operating Officer, Greater China Saxo Markets, comments.

Globally, more than 120 banks and brokers along with 300 financial intermediaries are powered by Saxo’s platforms and technology. In Hong Kong, Saxo Markets is a licensed subsidiary of Saxo Bank, serving as a gateway for Saxo to enable clients in the region to access global capital markets since 2011.

About CSA
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world’s leading organisation dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, certification, events, and products. CSA’s activities, knowledge and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud — from providers and customers, to governments, entrepreneurs, and the assurance industry — and provide a forum through which diverse parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem.

About the STAR
The Security, Trust, Assurance, and Risk (STAR) Registry is a publicly accessible registry that documents the security and privacy controls provided by popular cloud computing offerings. STAR encompasses the key principles of transparency, rigorous auditing, and harmonisation of standards outlined in the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) and CAIQ. Publishing to the registry allows organisations to show current and potential customers their security and compliance posture, including the regulations, standards, and frameworks they adhere to. Saxo Bank has implemented controls to address the security, availability, confidentiality and privacy Trust Services Principles as well as the control specifications included in the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) across our on-premise and cloud environments.