According to an announcement on Thursday, St.Galler Kantonalbank (SGKB) is joining “the trend of traditional financial institutions in Switzerland” and is now offering customers the opportunity to trade cryptocurrencies. The step is being taken in collaboration with Seba Bank.
Seba Bank, based in Zug, has had a banking license issued by the financial regulator (Finma) since 2019, making it one of the first financial institutions to offer digital assets in Switzerland.
Initially, the St. Gallen-based company will offer “a select group of customers” custody and trading services for the most widely used cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). And there are plans to expand the offering with other cryptocurrencies, depending on demand.
The digital assets would be “fully integrated into traditional investments,” allowing customers to seamlessly integrate their crypto holdings into their existing portfolio, the fifth-largest cantonal bank said.
New trend
The Zuger Kantonalbank started operations at the beginning of October. In partnership with crypto bank Sygnum, it was the first Swiss cantonal bank to launch an offering that allows customers to trade and store six cryptocurrencies.
The Luzerner Kantonalbank, among others, had already announced in August that it would launch a crypto offering.
Sources
- seba.swiss: St.Galler Kantonalbank partners with SEBA Bank to offer digital asset services and advanced adoption in Switzerland (press release)
- finews.ch: Bitcoin and Ethereum now also at SGKB
(dsc)
Source: Watson
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
