TechFlow reports, citing an internal announcement seen by CoinDesk, that Santander Private Banking International, a unit of Spanish financial services giant Banco Santander, is offering trading and investment services in major cryptocurrencies bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) to high-net-worth clients in Switzerland.
The announcement stated that over the coming months, Santander will offer additional cryptocurrencies that meet the bank's screening criteria.
Santander said the service is provided solely upon client request through relationship managers, with assets held in regulated custody arrangements, and the bank storing private keys in secure environments.
This is a bold move, as most large banks prefer experimenting with tokenization and tend to avoid engaging with open blockchains and the cryptocurrencies operating on them.
Santander, which has more than 160 years of history and serves 166 million customers, provides services to 210,000 wealthy individuals through its private banking arm, managing approximately $315 billion in assets and deposits.
