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Union Bank of the Philippines to Enhance Crypto Trading & Custody Services

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) plans to choose Metaco and IBM to enhance cryptocurrency trading and custody services, taking advantage of the Asian country’s rapid adoption of digital tokens.

Upon completion of this integration, UnionBank will improve the insurability of assets, how keys are managed and migrated through FIPS 140-2 Level 4 certified controls, the highest level of the U.S. government computer security standard

The bank’s head of blockchain, Cathy Casas, said the average Filipino could hold 3 ~ 5% of their personal assets in digital tokens such as bitcoin within five years, up from the current percentage. 1~2% or so.

Patrick Enjalbal, VP Customer Success managing director of Asia-Pacific region at Metaco said that:

“With the recent launch of our APAC headquarters in Singapore, we can ensure that we continue to offer best-in-class services to UnionBank and other clients in the region.”

Metaco is an enterprise cryptocurrency platform that protects, trades, issues, and manages digital assets. UnionBank integrates digital asset management services on IBM Cloud through Metaco’s solution.

Founded in 1982, UnionBank is one of the largest banks in the Philippines, with assets under management totalling $15 billion. As reported by blockchain.News on August 18, 2021, UnionBank announced that the bank has paired with Hong Kong-based Hex Trust to pilot digital assets custody service.

The UnionBank of the Philippines and Standard Chartered (StanChart) have created a proof of concept required in the issuance of a blockchain-powered retail bond. The blockchain platform intended for bond tokenization was co-developed by SC Ventures, StanChart’s innovation and ventures arm, and UnionBank on 2020.

French Giant Bank BNP Paribas to Launch Crypto Custody Business

France-based BNP Paribas, the second largest global bank in Europe, has become the latest banking giant to enter the crypto custody business.

BNP Paribas announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with Swiss-based crypto infrastructure firm Metaco to enable the offering of digital assets custody services to its customers. The development was revealed by three people who are familiar with the deal.

What makes the deal significant is BNP Paribas Securities Services, the custodian subsidiary of the bank, which holds over $12 trillion under custody, is the one gearing to focus on offering institutional-grade custody for digital assets.

Expanding Institutional Digital Assets Capabilities

In recent months, Metaco formed partnership deals with several banks to develop digital asset custody platforms.

Last month, on June 30, French bank Societe Generale (GLE) selected Swiss cryptocurrency custody firm Metaco to support its digital asset custody operations. Metaco was tapped to offer digital asset custody for customers in the bank’s digital asset subsidiary, SG FORGE, which will majorly focus on security tokens.

Societe Generale now provides various capital market products to institutional clients under a native security token format on Tezos and Ethereum with whole banking level regulatory and safety compliance.

The partnership enabled SG FORGE to continue integrating security tokens into traditional finance, and leveraging Metaco’s bank-grade digital asset custody and orchestration platform, Harmonize, to further expand its offering at scale.

Also, last month, US multinational investment bank Citi selected Swiss tech firm Metaco to develop and pilot digital asset custody capabilities.

The partnership brought together Metaco’s tech and digital solutions with Citi’s custody network to develop a platform that will enable Citi clients to store and settle digital assets securely.

Citi plans to fully integrate Metaco’s bank-grade digital asset custody and orchestration platform, Harmonize, into its existing infrastructure.

The service that Metaco is offering to Citi and Societe Generale works to bridge digital and traditional assets.

With Metaco’s service, SocGen and Citi are leveraging their infrastructure to support their vision of bridging traditional and digital finance, focused on security tokens, like tokenized versions of stocks or other financial instruments, with less of an emphasis on pure cryptocurrencies.

In the past, the likes of Spanish major bank BBVA, London-based Zodia Custody, Singapore multinational bank DBS, and UnionBank Philippines also partnered with Metaco to enable digital assets custody services to their clients.

VP Bank Partners with Metaco for Digital Asset Custody Services

VP Bank, one of the most significant financial institutions in the Principality of Liechtenstein, has collaborated with Metaco, a market-leading developer of infrastructure for digital assets. The purpose of this partnership is to work together to combine the digital asset custody and tokenization services offered by VP Bank utilizing Metaco’s Harmonize platform.

This move comes as VP Bank works toward its goal of redefining wealth management by integrating digital ecosystems with more conventional banking practices. This strategy, as VP Bank’s Chief Product Officer Marcel Fleisch explains it, enables the bank’s customers to take advantage of new possibilities and get new services. VP Bank will be able to broaden the services it provides thanks to the Harmonize platform, which will also enable support for the tokenization, minting, and storage of assets.

The Chief Growth Officer at Metaco, Seamus Donoghue, expressed his delight about the relationship and said that the Harmonize platform makes it possible for banks to satisfy the need for new asset classes. Donoghue noted that the platform gives financial institutions the ability to develop their business models in whatever way they see fit. In addition to this, he emphasized that VP Bank is a forward-thinking financial institution that caters to individual customers and intermediaries, which makes it an excellent business partner for Metaco.

Metaco has been working closely with influential members of the European market to develop and provide cutting-edge digital asset management solutions as part of its expansion efforts throughout Europe. For example, on February 9, 2023, Metaco entered into a partnership with the DekaBank of Germany to build a blockchain-based platform that was scheduled to become live in 2024. In a similar vein, on February 23, 2023, Metaco entered into a partnership with DZ Bank, a German asset manager, to include digital currencies into the asset management services that it offers.

In addition, Metaco has formed a partnership with Togg, a Turkish company that specializes in automotive technology, in order to protect its autonomous vehicle mobility services that are enabled by smart contracts. Also, on November 2, 2022, the business assisted the UnionBank of the Philippines in launching custody and trading for Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC), which marked its debut into the market in Southeast Asia.

In conclusion, thanks to VP Bank’s cooperation with Metaco, the bank will be able to broaden the scope of the digital asset services it provides and better use the potential of the Harmonize platform. The track record that Metaco has established via its collaboration with key financial players throughout Europe and Southeast Asia proves that the company is capable of delivering innovative solutions for the custody of digital assets and the tokenization of such assets.

HSBC to Initiate Institutional Digital Assets Custody Service in 2024

HSBC Holdings plc has declared its strategic move into the digital asset sphere by announcing its intention to introduce a new digital assets custody service specifically for institutional clients. The service, anticipated to go live in 2024, will be designed to cater to the evolving needs of clients investing in tokenised securities.

The forthcoming custody service will operate in synergy with HSBC’s existing digital asset infrastructure, including the HSBC Orion platform, which is responsible for issuing digital assets, and the recently unveiled mechanism for tokenised physical gold. This suite of services is set to offer HSBC’s institutional clients a comprehensive ecosystem for their digital asset requirements.

To deliver this service, HSBC has partnered with Metaco, a Swiss-based enterprise technology firm. Metaco will integrate its Harmonize platform into HSBC’s digital custody service, ensuring a secure and unified management system for digital assets operations.

HSBC’s venture into digital custody services is a response to the burgeoning demand from asset managers and owners for sophisticated custody and fund administration for digital assets. This development is a part of HSBC’s broader digital, data, and innovation strategy headed by Zhu Kuang Lee.

The bank’s focused approach will be on security tokens, rather than cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or stablecoins like Tether, delineating a clear distinction in its digital asset services. Security tokens are essentially digital representations of securities issued and transferred on blockchain technology, a domain where HSBC has been actively scouting talent since early 2022.

This initiative by HSBC is indicative of the financial industry’s gradual but definitive shift towards integrating blockchain and digital assets into traditional banking frameworks.

HSBC’s foray into digital asset custody services for institutional clients reflects the bank’s commitment to digital innovation and its foresight in adapting to the digital transformation of the financial sector. The service, backed by HSBC’s robust platforms and in partnership with Metaco, is set to launch in 2024, signaling a significant move by one of the world’s largest financial organizations into the domain of tokenised securities.