• Germany’s second-largest bank, DZ Bank, is preparing to offer crypto custody services through a partnership with Swiss firm Metaco.
• The offering will be facilitated by Metaco’s Harmonize platform, which enables financial and non-financial institutions to conduct crypto operations.
• The digital asset technology infrastructure has been purposely designed to support financial institutions in the digital asset economy and was selected through an extensive proof-of-concept and diligence process.
DZ Bank to Offer Crypto Custody Services
Germany’s DZ Bank, part of Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken which is one of the largest banking groups in the country, is preparing to become a provider of custody services for crypto assets. The offering will be facilitated by a partnership with Metaco, a Swiss company that specializes in helping financial institutions operate in the digital asset space.
Metaco’s Harmonize Platform
DZ Bank intends to use Metaco’s core product, an orchestration platform for digital assets called Harmonize, to integrate its new offering into its current asset management services. Regulated by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin), DZ Bank is an established custodian and Germany’s second-largest bank by asset size. At the end of 2022, it had €297 billion (almost $315 billion) worth of assets under custody.
Metaco, founded in Switzerland in 2015, specializes in enabling financial and non-financial institutions to conduct crypto operations. Its infrastructure allows such players to store and trade cryptocurrencies, tokenize other assets, provide staking services as well as manage smart contracts.
Adoption of Electronic Securities Act
Nils Christopeit from DZ BANK commented: “In terms of our security, scalability, and future requirements of our digital asset custody initiative for institutional clients starting with crypto securities as per the German eWpG [Electronic Securities Act], Metaco Harmonize has proven to be a powerful solution”The Electronic Securities Act (eWpG), adopted in 2021 was created update Germany’s securities legislation and supervisory framework and entered into force on June 10th that same year – being a key element of the blockchain strategy approved by legislators earlier this year .
Security & Compliance Focus
Craig Perrin from Metaco noted that their technology infrastructure was purposely designed “to support financial institutions capitalize on the digital asset economy.“ This sentiment was echoed by Nils Christopeit who spoke about their security focus when choosing their partner “In terms of our security…Metaco Harmonize has proven to be a powerful solution.“ As noted before they are regulated by Bafin which puts emphasis on regulatory compliance and security before launching such offerings..
Conclusion
With this move DZ Bank looks set become one of many banks offering institutional clients access custody solutions for cryptocurrencies or tokenized securities within Europe – further indicating mainstream adoption could soon become reality across multiple countries within Europe..