The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) recently approved two banks — Maerki Baumann and Incore Bank — to offer a number of cryptocurrency services, the two financial institutions independently announced Friday.
Maerki Baumann, a Zurich-based private bank with a dedicated crypto desk, stated Friday that it has obtained a license from FINMA “to offer the trading and custody of cryptocurrencies as well as other digital assets (tokens).” With this new license, the bank will offer its clients the trading and custody of cryptocurrencies starting this month. Noting that its trading platform will also support ERC20 tokens, Zurich-based private bank Maerki Baumann has been opening business accounts for crypto companies since April 2019 and is now expanding its crypto services to include trading and custody.
Besides providing business bank accounts for crypto and blockchain companies, the bank has also been supervising initial coin offerings (ICOs) and security token offerings (STOs) for its clients. As of Dec. 31, 2019, the bank had approximately 8.5 billion Swiss francs ($8.84 billion) in assets under management, 80% of which originated in Switzerland and 10% in Germany.
Its Friday announcement outlines the bank’s near-term plans to further expand its universe of tradable cryptocurrencies and crypto investment services in the second half of the year.