Saxo Group - Saxo Bank MENA Reviews 

I am extremely disappointed with the service I have received from Saxo Bank. While transferring money into my account takes just 10 minutes, withdrawing money is nearly impossible.

To withdraw funds, they require that money be sent from a bank account in my name, stating that their system will automatically retrieve and register my bank details for withdrawals. However, despite following this process multiple times and sending funds from my bank account, my details are still not registered.

I first contacted customer support on Tuesday and was assured that the issue would be resolved by the end of the day—it wasn’t. On Wednesday, they asked me to provide my bank statements, which I did immediately. However, my account still wasn’t registered. Each time I follow up, I receive the same generic response: “It is in progress” or “Please wait”. Now, I am being asked to wait until Monday—without any clear explanation of why this process is taking so long.

This level of inefficiency and lack of accountability is unacceptable, especially for a financial institution. The customer service team provides no real solutions, just delays and empty assurances.

I would strongly advise others to be cautious before using Saxo Bank. If depositing money is instant but withdrawing it is nearly impossible, that raises serious concerns. I will be looking for alternative banking solutions.

The experience was very good. The help was great.

My rating is based on the following: They've been doing a 'KYC' update for weeks now and every response is 2-3 weeks later with unreasonable asks under the pretext of compliance.
Every complaint gets a response that can be summarized as follows: "We will take 5 weeks to respond and you are advised to manage your own risks". 5 weeks in today's world is too long as a response time and hence the rating.

very helpful.

On each occasion that I’ve spoken with an agent, my enquiry has been dealt with quickly and satisfactorily. The agents have always been polite and friendly.

Yashi has been incredibly supportive, demonstrating both knowledge and excellent follow-up. She consistently followed up with me until she ensured my issue was fully resolved. Her dedication stands out, especially compared to one of her colleagues, who unprofessionally dropped the call on me. Others could definitely learn from her example.

Absolutely fantastic!!! It was such a pleasure dealing with Yashi. Explained the entire process patiently, willing and accurately answered all questions. Extremely polite and very pleasant, a true essence of great customer service . Thank you Yashi

Regards Shefali D Souza

I actioned a withdrawal on December 4th. I had thought the funds withdrawn would be transferred to the account I had withdrawn to on three previous occasions. However Saxo transferred the funds to an omnibus account, from there they have disappeared. Saxo have said that they are emailing Citi bank to request the funds, who in turn are emailing HSBC the omnibus account holder, who is ignoring Citi bank. I have been raising this with Saxo but they just tell me that emails have been sent to recall the funds….they even suggested I chase up HSBC. I did, but HSBC advised that this is not an issue triggered on their side, and that it is not standard practice for banking institutions to ask their customers to chase up missing funds on their behalf. Worrying.

I was not getting a solution to my issue in spite of no times of communication until I spoke with Ester Johanne Bjørnstad.
She took it up personally and ensured that I finally had a satisfactory solution.

Got an email to update KYC info which I did ….the subsequent email was restricting my account because they needed some further information without sending me an email or communication asking for the additional information . Been calling daily and asking to resolve and escalate the matter only to get the packaged responses of empty promises … the same way they will probably reply to this review !!

Update on November 13… no response whatsoever, no call from any supervisor received , and strangely enough …not even having face to reply to my review after asking for my account id and full name to ensure that I am a real customer !!

Update November 14:

I did receive a call from Ester yesterday and I committed to apologize publicly here in case she can send me the email where they asked for further information..of course it did not happen .

She also promised to escalate the case to senior management since obviously it is the banks fault and they already passed their own timelines ( up to 5 days)

So today I was surprised by a new ask from the compliance team …

1 - copy of my passport which has expired since more than a year ( and they simply forgot to ask for it in the two instances before ) how competent .

2 - the reason of choosing saxo over their competitors 4 years ago. Instead of asking me what they should do to stay with them after all of this.

And after providing the info … I got the standard reply of it will take another five days to review my documents . And probably ask me what type of food I like and my favorite movie !

I will keep providing updates until it is resolved .

Update November 19…

Nothing yet !!!while they acknowledge that they did not send me an email requesting for additional information ( the basis of restricting my account )and acknowledging that they should have asked for my passport copy at the same time !!! All of that and apparently we have not hit their up to 5 days statement

Sold our property in the UK (we are British citizens but living in UAE). We raised a request to transfer the proceeds of our house sale from our UK account to our saxo account and three weeks later they just keep saying the relevant department are working on it. It’s absolutely shocking that my proceeds from a house sale, which is a significant sum, are currently sitting in my UK current account earning no interest while I wait for Saxo to respond. I provided copies of all documentation in relation to the property sale 3 weeks ago. They say they will answer requests in 2-3 days but never ever do. I’m honestly gobsmacked how they operate their business! Customer Service is non-existent. I do not believe the CEO knows how bad the customer experience is! HIRE MORE PEOPLE URGENTLY AND RESPOND TO YOUR CUSTOMERS!

Our issue has been solved in professional way keeping the confidentiality aspects as a priority.

It was easy and following a firm approach.

A young lady by the name of Aditi helped resolve and urgent matter for me with great professionalism and excellent follow up. I would like to thank Saxo for the excellent quality of their Support team.
Thanks very much again, Aditi!

My trading account is been blocked since June 2023. I am giving all the documents they require but still no news from them since 3 weeks. Now I have been calling everyday for updates and still nothing . I never though they would be so unprofessional.
I highly don't recommend to open an account with them
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE

Karan, was helpful in explaining to me the various details on your dashboard moments ago. He was very patient and clear in his speech as well. I am impressed by his customer centric qualities. he is an asset to SAXO Bank.

Ms. Gurpreet was nice and clear in understanding and explained how to go about my issue. Quite happy with her service

Quick, simple, efficient.
Thanks
Alberto Fasana

I am deeply disappointed with my experience with Saxo Trader, and it's disheartening to note that my grievances echo the frustrations of others who have voiced similar concerns here. The inefficiencies in handling deposits and updating account information have been exasperating. It's been several weeks now with my account unjustifiably restricted, and despite numerous attempts to resolve these issues through customer support, I've seen no real progress.

Each interaction with support ends with a hollow promise to expedite the process, yet here I am, still waiting. Adding to the frustration, I find myself stuck in a loop of submitting the same documents over and over, as if the previous submissions vanished into thin air. It’s not just an isolated case—it seems to be a widespread problem that needs urgent and comprehensive action from Saxo Trader to maintain its credibility.

The lack of efficient problem resolution and the overall disregard for timely customer service has left me with no choice but to close my account. A financial service provider should offer reliability and promptness, qualities that Saxo Trader currently lacks. The need to be following necessary regulations does not prevent from doing it in a timely manner. My experience, along with similar reports from other users, should be a wake-up call for the company to implement systemic changes rather than merely putting out fires on a case-by-case basis as they arise from negative reviews.
Posted on 2 May 2024

1st update (5 May): Thank you Saxo for the feedback posted here few minutes after my initial post. I will update again once I receive real feedback on the platform and my problem is solved to give the reader a sense of how long it takes to solve such a simple problem.
2nd update (13 May): Call received from support on the 7th of May assuring me that the case was escalated (again!) and that it will be solved within 5 days. 6 days later my account is still blocked and I have no access to the majority of my savings, for more than one month now.
3rd and last update (22nd May): still no updates or a clear end date for this frustrating situation.
I am extremely upset and disappointed with the lack of communication and the inconvenience this has caused me. It's surprising that Saxo Bank doesn't have safeguards in place to prevent holding people's money indefinitely, especially from customers who have trusted them with years of savings.
Given this experience, I have no choice but to close my account and update my review to reflect my dissatisfaction and warn any potential user of saxo trading platform that they might end up in the same situation.