SEBA Bank Grabs Another FINMA License

The Swiss Financial Market Authority (FINMA) has approved the CISA license application of SEBA Bank AG, a Swiss-based crypto-focused institution, SEBA said in a press release on 29 September.

According to the announcement, the newly acquired CISA license enables SEBA to offer institutional-grade custodian services to Swiss-native “collective investment schemes”, making it the first institution in the country to gain such a license. With approval from FINMA, SEBA can now provide its professional clients with more crypto-based investment opportunities. The CEO of SEBA Bank, Guido Buehler, said in a statement:

“With our new CISA license, SEBA Bank continues its pioneering role in the institutional digital asset space. Asset Managers can now offer strategies based on crypto or other digital asset underlying to a broader audience utilizing Swiss-based mutual fund structures secured by SEBA Bank as the CISA-licensed custodian.”

Established in 2018, SEBA Bank had the goal of providing its clients with the next-generation digital banking. With that goal in mind, the company took only an year to acquire a banking and securities firm license from FINMA, and in 2019 introduced its SEBAwallet app, SEBA card, and e-banking services — all supporting five cryptocurrencies — to its clients.

Back in July 2020, SEBA was chosen as a participant in Banque de France’s digital Euro experiment, which was successfully completed in June of this year. In May, SEBA also expended its reach to the DeFi space with the addition of UNI, SNX, and YFI to its pool of supported crypto assets.