“Saxo Bank have demonstrated strong support in sport through sponsorships in the world of cycling at the highest level with Team Tinkoff-Saxo. Saxo Bank is taking an exciting and proactive approach to this new partnership with Lotus F1 Team,” said Eric Boullier, the team principal of Lotus F1 Team.

Through the partnership, Saxo Bank has gained access to the Lotus F1 Team and its portfolio of partners including Microsoft, Unilever’s Clear and Rexona brands and The Coca-Cola Company. The deal also allows for the bank to use the Lotus F1 Team brand in its own promotions and marketing, the firm said in a statement.

Disruptive bank meets challenger team

Co-founders and chief executives of Saxo, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen, added that the sponsorship was a good fit for Saxo’s so-called "disruptive" industry strategy, as Lotus has similarly challenged established players in the F1 league.

“The philosophy and ambitions of Saxo Bank resonate closely with those of Lotus F1 Team, a team which has emerged as a genuine challenger in a sport which is dominated by bigger and more established players,” the pair said in a joint statement.

Are sports sponsorships worth the buck?

The deal comes at a time when sports sponsorships are becoming increasingly popular in the financial services industry - UBS has long been a major sponsor of F1 racing, for example. However, and more conversely, it can be argued that such sponsorship is becoming less likely to pay off commercially, at least in the short term.

For instance, NFL fans across the globe are just a few weeks from the Super Bowl XLVIII in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A Super Bowl that will be played in the only stadium in the US league built without the use of taxpayer money. The stadium, which is home to the Jets and Giants teams, was paid for and built by the insurance and financial services giant, MetLife. Yet, it's questionable whether New York-headquartered MetLife should be happy with its NFL sponsorship.

Crucially, NFL sponsors might not get their money’s worth at a time when the league has the ability to take a game off local television if it is not sold out 72 hours before kickoff. Which pretty much equates buying a new car without a warranty - you pay a whole lot up front, and you have to keep paying even if the car somehow breaks down.

Similar rules have not been put in place in Formula 1, yet, one questions whether a joint sponsorship of an F1 team will gain quite as much traction as the omnipresent Team Saxo Bank did for fans in the cycling world.