|
|
DZ Bank, the third-largest bank in Germany, recently announced the launch of a new digital asset custody platform, becoming one of the first banks in Germany to offer blockchain-based services to institutional clients. As Germany's largest custodian with assets under management exceeding 300 billion euros, it ranks third in the country, following BNP Paribas and State Street.
To operate the new custody solution, DZ Bank has hired over a dozen IT, operations, and compliance professionals. The bank has been researching blockchain technology for years and, since 2022, has been constructing a digital custody platform for institutional clients. The platform will initially custody encrypted securities, such as Siemens Group's encrypted bonds. These bonds, subscribed to by Union Investment and DZ Bank six months ago, have now been transferred to their in-house custody.
Furthermore, DZ Bank previously participated as a settlement and custodian in the first external transaction of cryptocurrency fund shares for Bankhaus Metzler, a German private bank. Since both cases fall within the scope of electronic securities law, custody can be carried out using existing licenses.
In June of this year, DZ Bank applied for a license from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to offer cryptocurrency asset custody services to institutional clients. Simultaneously, DZ Bank is developing products that allow private clients to directly invest in cryptocurrencies.
Leveraging its existing infrastructure, DZ Bank will actively participate in the exploratory phase of the European Central Bank (ECB), testing settlement using Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) for large-capacity capital market transactions.
In partnership with Metaco! According to cryptocurrency custody provider Metaco, DZ Bank is utilizing Metaco's custody technology platform, Harmonize, to offer digital asset custody services. DZ Bank selected Metaco Harmonize as the infrastructure platform to realize its vision in February of this year. Ripple Labs acquired Metaco in May, investing $250 million to facilitate custody, issuance, and settlement of any tokenized assets. |
|
Post time 12-11-2023 09:56:21