DBS Bank, Southeast Asia’s largest bank by assets, plans to launch crypto trading services for retail clients this year, following the launch of an institutional digital asset trading desk DDEx in 2021.
In Brief:
- Similar to DDEx, the Digital Asset Platform by DBS, it is planning to launch a crypto trading platform for retail investors.
- The bank is focused yet on potential frauds and other facts wrt suitability.
- Also on convenience to the current investors through some tweaks in internal processes.
On a recent earnings call, the DBS CEO Piyush Gupta stated, “We are starting the initial work to expand it beyond the current investor base. Lots of work to do with suitability and anti-fraud… we should have something by the end of the year.”
He also stated that DBS will prioritize easy access to the retail-focused digital asset trading platform for its existing customer base in the first half of the year. Users must currently contact a banker over the phone to place an order for cryptocurrency.
However, the bank intends to make the process online and self-service by allowing for instant online deposits and transactions without the use of intermediaries.
“What happens is that you’ve got 24/7, but the customers still need to call and speak to bankers,” Gupta said. “So the first order is to make it all online, make it self-service, make it instant, and make sure the internal processes are robust to be able to support that.”
DBS launched the DDEx digital assets trading desk in early 2020, allowing professional investors to trade cryptocurrencies. DBS Bank’s brokerage arm, DBSV received approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the country’s Payment Services Act in late 2021.
Currently, the platform supports four fiat currencies – Singapore dollars, USD, Hong Kong dollars, and Japanese yen – as well as four cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Ripple (XRP).
Recently, the largest money manager, BlackRock is speculated to enter the crypto trading world through its platform Aladdin and not only that but provide traders/customers with a credit support facility. Crypto trading plans by the mainstream providers are having the spotlight, encouraging the new players.
