Swiss Private Bank To Start Accepting Cryptocurrency
- Maerki Baumann’s clientele will have access to trading and custody services for five major cryptos.
- For the next half of the year, the bank will be looking to expand its existing private banking offerings to its crypto clients.
Maerki Baumann
Private Swiss bank Maerki Baumann will be expanding its cryptocurrency services later this year, by adding new trading and custody options for its clients, the bank said in a press release on 29 May.
According to the announcement, the bank has received regulatory approval from the Swiss Financial Market Advisory Authority (FINMA), and will start offering its new services from June this year. Initially, the bank’s clients will have access to five major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum (ETH), but will eventually expand its offerings based on client feedback.
The press release reads:
“The trading orders placed with Maerki Baumann are directed to professional crypto brokers and the world’s largest and most liquid crypto exchanges via proven partner companies. This ensures that transactions are carried out quickly and with a narrow trading range between the buy and sell price.”
The bank first entered the crypto space in April 2019, when it began offering corporate accounts to qualified blockchain firms, as well as provide advice to startups looking to conduct Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) and Security Token Offerings (STO). According to last week’s announcement, the launch of its new features is in line with the bank’s crypto strategy to build a bridge between traditional private banking and the crypto industry.
Stephan Zwahlen, Maerki Baumann’s CEO, commented on the new features:
“With the trading and custody of digital assets, not only are we tapping into a new business area, we are also creating additional investment possibilities for our core business. This will benefit younger, tech-savvy client segments as well as private and institutional clients who would like to seek out new sources of return in the digital sphere or further diversify their portfolios.”
In the second half of 2020, Maerki Baumann will be looking to further expand its existing private banking offerings to its crypto clients. The bank will also be working on a new crypto investment service, which will allow its customers to invest in blockchain companies that have been selected after “close scrutiny”.
Maerki Baumann, whose clientele includes institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals, was one of the first adopters of crypto and blockchain technology in Switzerland, and reportedly became the second Swiss bank to accept crypto assets in August 2018.
- Coinbase has informed its customers that it will no longer provide support for Signature Bank’s Signet real-time payments network.
- The crypto exchange is now looking for an alternative payments network provider, while waiting for more clarity on the outcome of Signet.
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- NYDFS took possession of Signature in order to protect the economy and strengthen the confidence in the banking system, and assured customers that all deposits will be returned.
- The price of USDC also started to recover after its issuer, Circle, revealed that all stablecoin reserves held at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) were safe, and that the company had new banking partners.
- Both crypto exchange Coinbase and stablecoin issuer Paxos have stated that they will no longer accept or initiate U.S. dollar payments through Silvergate Bank.
- The two noted that cash transactions for institutional clients will now be carried out through their other banking partners, and that the move had no impact on pound and euro payments.