Swiss Bank Collaborates With Fintech And Crypto Firms, Will Launch Crypto Services Soon

By Rishma Banerjee

According to press reports of Avaloq, dated December 6th, the Swiss bank, Gazprombank has recently collaborated with a fintech startup company, Avaloq and a crypto firm, Metaco, in order to provide their clients with various crypto services. Gazprombank, which manages total assets worth CHF 3.1 billion which is approximately 3.12 billion USD has collaborated with these two companies, “to implement their integrated crypto asset solution” aimed at banks and wealth managers. The system is to be used “for the management of client portfolios across all asset classes, including cryptocurrencies.”

The press release by Avaloq outlines the latest developments about the project and the nature of their partnership with the bank:

“Gazprombank (Switzerland) Ltd, which is already an Avaloq client, aims to offer a cryptocurrency service to its clients in mid-2019.”

The system in question, on implementation, is supposed to make transactions of crypto assets a more straightforward process, where clients will be able to buy, sell and transfer crypto “without any need for a crypto-wallet or private key management.” The system will be running on the Metaco’s Hardware Security Module (HSM), which as per reports, “ensures a military security solution for storing private keys and managing wallets and operations” along with multisignature support.

The bank’s website says the it is 100 percent owned by Russian state-owned Gazprombank (JSC) and regulated by the Swiss financial regulatory body, the   Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).

More and more banks are dabbling with blockchain technology and the use of cryptocurrencies. Recently, New York’s Financial Services Department Authorises Bank-Offered Blockchain Platform, by Signature Bank.  Brazil’s largest private bank Itau Unibanco, also recently collaborated with Standard Chartered in order to create a blockchain based platform for loans of small amounts