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BBVA Switzerland announced the news via a press release on Monday (Dec. 13, 2021). According to the announcement, the move made BBVA Switzerland the "first traditional bank in Europe" to include ETH in its services.
With the latest development, private banking customers and clients who have a New Gen account with BBVA Switzerland can now access both Bitcoin and Ether. Also, users can view their crypto and traditional assets on the banking app, while being able to automatically convert digital assets to any fiat currency such as dollars or euros.
Commenting this, the CEO of BBVA Switzerland, Alfonso Gómez said:
Back in June, BBVA Switzerland first announced the launch of crypto custody and trading services for its private banking clients. The financial institution started by offering only bitcoin trading and custody service while stating that there were plans to include other crypto assets.
A statement from Gómez at the time, said:
The recent announcement noted that the crypto service offering has seen positive reception among private banking customers who prefer to manage their portfolios via New Gen. Furthermore, the increased demand for cryptocurrency comes from investors who are looking to "diversify their portfolio."
With Bitcoin and Ether made available to customers and clients, the Switzerland subsidiary said that more crypto assets would be added soon. An excerpt from the press release reads:
However, the bank said that the crypto trading and custody services would be limited to Switzerland for now, because of the country's cryptocurrency-friendly policies and high adoption rate. But BBVA said that it would expand its crypto offerings to new countries and other types of customers, depending on the demand, regulatory framework, and maturity of the market.
Switzerland continues to remain one of the best countries that encourage the growth and adoption of the crypto industry. Back in September, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the country's financial regulator, approved Switzerland's first crypto fund, the Cryptocurrency Market Index Fund.