British banking giant teams up with Hong Kong’s BC Group to launch a digital-asset brokerage and exchange aimed at UK and European institutional investors
Standard Chartered and BC Technology Group have announced plans to launch a brokerage and trading venue for digital assets tailored to institutional investors in the United Kingdom and Europe.
The initiative brings together SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s technology and innovation arm, and OSL, a Hong Kong–based regulated cryptocurrency exchange supervised by BC Group. The venture is designed to offer institutional and corporate clients “a secure and trusted investment structure,” said Alex Manson of SC Ventures.
“We have a strong conviction about digital assets: they are here to stay and will be adopted by institutional markets as a meaningful asset class,” he added in a press statement.
According to the two companies, the platform is expected to go live in Q4 2021, subject to regulatory approval. Clients will be able to access Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as other major cryptocurrencies.
The partnership with BC Group builds on the bank’s earlier introduction of Zodia Custody, a service the bank described as providing a secure and regulated way for institutional clients to store digital assets.
The project team will be led by Usman Ahmad, CIO of BC Group, and Nick Philpott, formerly CEO at Standard Chartered. Ahmad will serve as CEO and Philpott as COO of the new brokerage and exchange, which will be based in the UK.
Standard Chartered’s move to develop a brokerage and trading platform comes days after global bank HSBC said it had no plans to offer digital-asset services. HSBC CEO Noel Quinn told Reuters last week that the bank would not provide digital assets to its clients or launch a trading platform, citing market volatility.
Bitcoin has slumped from an all-time high of $64,863 and is moving toward the $40,000 area. After falling to around $30,000, BTC has recovered to roughly $38,000 at the time of writing, up nearly 6% over the past 24 hours.