Singapore’s largest bank DBS Bank, with more than $500 billion in total assets, has announced ambitions to expand its crypto trading services to regular investors. The bank is aiming to open a retail crypto trading desk, according to CEO Piyush Gupta.
During an earnings call, Gupta disclosed the current stage of the project and estimated that the crypto retail trading desk will be launched by the end of 2022.
He said, “We are starting the initial work to expand it beyond the current investor base [of accredited investors].” He added: “Lots of work to do with suitability and anti-fraud… we should have something by the end of the year.”
The Singapore bank, founded in July 1968 is estimated to have about 200,000 customers, including large corporations, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and institutional investors. The plan to launch a trading desk for retail investors came a few months after the bank acquired in-principle clearance from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide crypto services to institutional investors like asset managers and businesses.
DBS Bank steps up preparations for crypto offering
With a licensing framework for retail exchanges in place with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the CEO of the bank revealed that there are still some aspects of the project that still require more work to be done. For instance, DBS would use the first half of 2022 to make it easier for its existing clients to use the digital assets trading desk.
In addition, to make the service of buying and selling crypto available online and as a self-service option, clients will have to place orders by contacting a bank representative over the phone.
While the bank revealed some features of the new crypto trading desk and its estimated time of launch, further information like whether a client can transfer the digital assets bought on the platform to other providers or crypto wallets, has been withheld.
Meanwhile, in 2020, DBS launched its fiat-to-crypto exchange, DBS Digital Exchange, to enable crypto investors to trade coins like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), etc against major fiats like Singaporean dollar (SGD), Hong Kong dollar (HKD), Japanese yen (JPY) and U.S dollar (USD).
