tokenist.com
Government-owned Swiss bank PostFinance plans to launch a crypto trading service, allowing customers to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies. PostFinance’s push into crypto is enabled through its collaboration with Sygnum Bank, a regulated digital asset services provider.
Switzerland’s 5th Biggest Retail Financial Institution Offers Crypto
PostFinance, a financial services firm owned by the Swiss government, has partnered with digital asset bank Sygnum Bank to provide crypto trading services to its customers. The move will allow PostFinance’s 2.5 million customers to buy, store, and sell crypto tokens, including bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH).
PostFinance’s launch of crypto services is made available through Sygnum’s institutional business-to-business (B2B) solution that gives banks access to regulated digital assets. Its B2B network comprises over 15 partner banks and supports a broad spectrum of cryptocurrencies.
The foray into crypto PostFinance comes amid growing demand from its customers, according to Phillipp Merkt, the bank’s Chief Investment Officer. Crypto assets “have become an integral part of the financial world, and our customers want access to this market at PostFinance, their trusted principal bank,” said Merkt.
PostFinance is a fully-owned subsidiary of Swiss Post, the national postal service of Switzerland. Founded in 1906, it is the fifth-largest retail financial institution in the country and is known for being crypto-friendly. The bank is also developing its crypto custody offering and digital collectibles backed by physical stamps.
PostFinance Sees Crypto as an Opportunity
According to Sygnum’s Chief B2B Officer Fritz Jost, PostFinance’s decision to launch crypto trading services is partly due to recent outflows from the local retail banks into digital assets.
“PostFinance became aware of a considerable number in the hundreds of millions each year of outflows to crypto exchanges and the like. So they saw that this is not only as an opportunity to add a new revenue stream, but also realized that this has a lot to do with client retention.”
– asid Sygnum Bank’s Chief B2B Officer Fritz Jost.
Last month, Credit Suisse, one of Switzerland’s oldest and biggest traditional banks, collapsed, forcing the Swiss government to engineer a deal that saw rival UBS buy the bank for $3.2 billion. After facing numerous scandals in recent years, the bank’s demise was accelerated by the implosion of two major US banks, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
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