Saxo Bank, an online platform for investors, traders, and institutional partners, is set to review its presence in Asia.

Amidst growing optimism in investment opportunities in Asia, Saxo Bank decided this week to review opportunities regarding its presence there, in a bid to accelerate its growth in the region.

After conversations with potential partners, Saxo said it will be seeking to create new partnerships with organisations in Asia where the current offices in Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong can form a part of the partnerships.

By forming partnerships from the outset in the existing offices, clients, and client assets, new partners can use Saxo’s strength of a scalable and multi-asset infrastructure, the firm said in a statement.

For Saxo, it means maintaining a commercial footprint with large growth opportunities. New partnerships mean new opportunities and more potential for both new partners and Saxo, and Saxo’s employees in the Australian, Japan and Hong Kong offices, the firm added.

Saxo is not alone in its views. Cheuk Wan Fan, chief investment officer, Asia at HSBC Global Private Banking is optimistic about investment opportunities in Asia. “Asia remains the most important growth engine of the global economy with projected GDP growth and earnings' growth for Asia ex-Japan in 2024 at 4.6 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively, well above the global peers,” Fan said in a recent note. She holds an overweight view on equities in Japan, India, and South Korea, where she sees the best opportunities to tap into Asia’s structural growth themes. See more commentary here.

Kelly Chia, deputy head of research Asia at Swiss private bank Julius Baer, also thinks that Japan remains a market that will be able to compete with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in 2024. Other wealth managers, such as BNY Wealth Management, favour Japanese equities in 2024. Michaël Lok, group CIO and co-CEO asset management at Swiss private bank Union Bancaire Privée, Willem Sels, global chief investment officer at HSBC Global Private Banking and Wealth, are also positive about Japanese equities in 2024.