DBS Private Bank Launches Asia’s First Bank-Backed Crypto Trust Service

DBS Private Bank has unveiled Asia’s first trust services for cryptocurrencies backed by a bank. The Singapore-based bank stated on Friday that, its private banking sector has begun offering trust services for crypto, helping wealthy clients include digital assets in their wealth succession plans. Alongside the option of investing in digital assets, DBS Private Bank’s crypto Trust service also offers clients the ability to store and manage up to four of such assets via the bank’s licensed trust company DBS Trustee, according to a press release on Friday. Digital assets currently hosted on the Singapore-based bank’s digital asset exchange are Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and XRP. The fiat trading pairs on the bank’s exchange are the Singapore dollar, US dollar, Hong Kong dollar, and Japanese yen.

Lee Woon Shiu, regional head of family office, wealth planning and insurance solutions at DBS Private Bank, in a statement, said that “International regulations and protocols are still evolving in the cryptocurrency space, which could give rise to complications or unnecessary confusion if proper measures are not in place to prevent them.”

The recent boom in the value of several cryptocurrencies has seen traditional financial firms increase their crypto offerings available to clients and UBS Private Bank’s latest decision further secures the legitimacy to digital assets in Asia while providing multi-millionaires with a means to invest in digital assets they consider safe.

Joseph Poon, group head of DBS Private Bank, also stated that most of their clients have expressed a form of interest or are already invested in digital assets and the bank now expects this trend to continue as cryptocurrencies have taken over the financial world now. UBS Group now joins Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group who have already integrated digital asset investment and management into their offerings. The Singapore-based bank has also created a blockchain payments platform and joins Temasek Holdings and JPMorgan Chase & Co in doing so.

DBS Private Bank’s journey into the crypto space started in the latter stages of Last year when it launched its digital assets exchange in December. The DBS Digital Exchange is 10% owned by the Singapore SGX stock exchange and provides bank-grade custody for digital assets as well as the tokenization of securities and other assets. Its tokenization of security offering comprises a regulated platform for the issuance and trading of digital tokens backed by financial assets, including shares in unlisted companies, bonds, and private equity funds.

Piyush Gupta, DBS Group CEO speaking at that time of the launch told reporters that clients could tokenize anything, even a painting, but the bank is concentrating on Financial assets for the time being.