Arab Bank Switzerland has partnered with Blockchain firm Taurus to offer its clients access to custody and brokerage services for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Reported by Swissinfo on Thursday, the private bank will use Taurus’ cryptocurrency storage platform to offer the services to its high net-worth clients.
Commenting on the development, Serge Robin, chief executive of Arab Bank Switzerland, said: “We firmly believe that blockchain will disrupt the financial industry as we know it and we intend to be amongst the first banks to offer digital asset services to our clients in a secure and regulated environment.”
This partnership came amid the demand from high-value clients for investments in digital assets who are also seeking the reputational guarantee of established financial institutions for crypto-related services.
Switzerland and crypto
Founded in 2018, Taurus offers digital asset exchange services along with a storage service called Taurus Protect. Regulated by Swiss law, the company also entered into a partnership with Swiss bank Vontobel earlier this year to ease digital asset storage with the bank’s Digital Asset Vault.
Although Switzerland is among the countries that have taken a friendly approach to blockchain startups, the country’s financial regulator last month implemented strict regulations for the crypto firms operating in the country in a bid to curb money laundering and other illegal activities using digital currencies.
Meanwhile, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority also granted licenses to two crypto companies - SEBA Crypto AG and Sygnum AG - to operate as a bank under its purview.
Apart from crypto companies, major Swiss banks are also entering into the crypto sphere. Earlier this year Julius Baer partnered with SEBA to enter into crypto investments.
Facebook also flocked to the European nation for its ambitious crypto initiatives and set up the Libra Association in Geneva to operate Libra. The social media company is now seeking for a payment system license from the Swiss regulator.
