Saxo Bank signed Formula 1 driver Lando Norris, chess player Magnus Carlsen and seven other athletes to front a campaign on investor psychology, it said today (Monday). The Danish bank called the partnerships one of its most ambitious brand initiatives to date.
The group also includes footballers Gareth Bale, Thibaut Courtois and Rasmus Højlund, tennis players Aryna Sabalenka and Stan Wawrinka, speed skater Jutta Leerdam and judoka Teddy Riner. Between them they hold world championships, Grand Slam titles and Olympic medals, according to the bank.
Sport is familiar ground for Saxo. The bank was title sponsor of the Tinkoff-Saxo cycling team until the end of 2015 and extended its backing of the Lotus Formula 1 team for that season.
London's trading industry is coming home!
It returns to a more crowded field. Trading brands spent $183 million on sports sponsorships in the 2024-25 season, about three times the 2019-20 level, according to a Sportquake report.
Football took $86 million of that and Formula 1 took $20 million. Among CFD brokers, Swissquote spent the most, at about $15 million.
Rival Brokers Already Pay Footballers and F1 Teams
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Most of that money goes to clubs and teams, though some brokers have signed individual athletes. XTB named Zlatan Ibrahimović its brand ambassador in September 2024, after earlier deals with Iker Casillas and Conor McGregor.
A year before that, OANDA made Robert Lewandowski its first global brand ambassador.
Norris already carries a broker's logo. FxPro, a McLaren sponsor since 2018, renewed the partnership in February and added its brand to the back of the drivers' helmets.
Campaign Follows Change of Ownership
Over the coming months, Saxo plans to work with the nine on the habits behind their careers and how those habits apply to investing, the bank said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"I am proud to reignite Saxo's long-standing connection with the world of sport," said Daniel Belfer, chief executive of Saxo Bank.
Belfer took the job in March, when the Swiss J. Safra Sarasin Group closed its purchase of roughly 71% of Saxo. He previously ran Bank J. Safra Sarasin.
The bank says it serves more than 1.7 million clients, against the 1.5 million it reported for 2025.
In July, the group agreed to buy the remaining 28.7% stake from founder Kim Fournais, who stays on as chairman. Saxo described the athlete campaign as a new chapter for the bank following that acquisition.
