Switzerland’s GazpromBank Receives FINMA’s Approval To Provide Crypto Custody Services

A fully owned subsidiary of the private Russia-based Gazprombank (JSC) bank has received regulatory approval for rolling out institutional cryptocurrency services in Switzerland. According to the official announcement, the authorization from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) with which the platform will be able to offer cryptocurrency custody services as well as trading between crypto and fiat currencies to its corporate and institutional clients.

The bank’s CEO Roman Abdulin expects digital assets to become increasingly important in the global economy and, in particular, for its current and potential clientele. Following the latest development, the exec went on to assert that the authorization by the Swiss regulator FINMA marked a very important milestone for Gazprombank and added,

“Being committed to continuous financial innovation, we strive to offer our clients advanced banking services at the highest level of quality. Our blockchain solution provides uncompromising security as well as ease of use. We are very pleased to be able to offer these services to our clients after years of professional development using top industry know-how.”

Security and Compliance

In a bid to ensure compliance with the Swiss anti-money laundering [AML] and know-your-customer [KYC] rules, Gazprombank reportedly applies “specially designed” due diligence procedures which add additional layers of security. Abdulin further stated,

“Gazprombank is delighted to be able to contribute to the growth of the Swiss and global crypto and blockchain ecosystem. As a FINMA regulated financial institution, we are confident that we can add value by providing an increased level of trust to participants, both in terms of institutional grade custody as well as between transactional partners. Our goal is to set a new benchmark in institutional client service.”

Background

Notably, Gazprombank Switzerland is a Swiss-registered bank and is 100% owned by Russia-based Gazprombank, which is the country’s third-largest bank by net assets. Since 2018, the bank had been preparing to launch crypto services in Switzerland. It also collaborated with a cryptocurrency custody solution company Metaco, and financial technology company, Avaloq. In April 2019, its parent firm, and Russian state-owned gas giant, Gazprom reportedly built a blockchain platform to digitize the gas supply process among other things..