After Vontobel and Bank Frick positioned themselves as custodians of cryptocurrencies, Falcon Private Bank is poised to make cryptos «bankable», finews.asia has learned.
Swiss banks are still basically wary of digital assets, but an arms race has broken out among those to cautiously dip their toes into the new and burgeoning sector of cryptocurrency products and services .
Embattled Falcon Private Bank is trying to reclaim what it views as a pioneering role in establishing crypto in finance, finews.com has learned. The Zurich-based wealth manager will allow its private and institutional clients to transfer cryptocurrencies to and from Falcon wallets directly. The bank will also help clients convert their crypto holdings into fiat.
Falcon, owned by Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, will also offer secure storage thanks to a proprietary custody solution. A spokesman confirmed the information to finews.asia.
Early Adopter
The move is a bid to make blockchain-based assets fully bankable. «Falcon has once more seized the opportunity to demonstrate its expertise as a market leader in the digital assets space by merging traditional private banking services with innovative financial solutions,» the bank will disclose on Monday according to a statement seen by finews.asia.
While banks including Liechtenstein's Frick, Vontobel, and Hypothekarbank Lenzburg have begun offering some cryptocurrency services, Falcon was Switzerland's earliest adopter. The bank adopted a crypto-focused wealth strategy including a bitcoin ATM in its lobby in 2017 and a «Goldfinger»-themed advertising campaign, in a bid to distance itself from the 1MDB scandal.
Stumbling Blocks
Falcon's reinvention wasn't without stumbling blocks: the bank suffered a C-suite exodus amid its battered reputation and needed a massive capital injection from Abu Dhabi. The bank has taken several executives from the emirates on board as part of its restoration efforts.
The latest move by Falcon is a show of assertiveness: CEO Martin Keller told finews.asia last month that the bank has backing from its Middle East owner, including on strategic investments for growth. Now, Falcon plans to offer the crypto services for bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, and litecoin. The expansion adheres to anti-money laundering and KYC, or know your client, rules.
Stolen a March
With the move, Falcon hopes to propel itself to the fore of cryptocurrency services, following an attack by Swiss bank Vontobel. The Zurich-based rival recently launched a crypto push for independent wealth managers and asset managers, also in a push to link up digital assets with banks.
Others including Maerki Baumann and Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) have courted crypto-sourced funds – when converted into fiat. Smaller neighbor Liechtenstein has stolen a march on Switzerland: Bank Frick began offering trading and custody of cryptocurrency nearly one year ago.
