Zurich-based digital asset bank Sygnum is seeing an influx in inquiries from international crypto firms looking for new banking partners following the recent collapses of crypto-friendly banking giants in the United States.
Dominic Castley, chief marketing officer at Sygnum, told Cointelegraph in an email that they are receiving more onboarding inquiries from crypto firms based in various jurisdictions looking to bank with them. He explained:
“Over the past weeks, as the current banking industry events have unfolded, we have seen a significant increase in onboarding inquiries from various international locations, including a number from the UAE and the Middle East.”
Castley added that the new onboarding inquiries are mainly coming from investors, asset managers and blockchain projects looking to diversify their crypto investments. He explained that the Swiss bank is putting additional effort into scaling its client service support and compliance teams “to welcome these new clients in a speedy but fully compliant manner.”
Signature Bank, Silvergate Capital and Silicon Valley Bank experienced a meltdown in March, leaving U.S. crypto firms scrambling for institutions to do business with.
Although the recent events have resulted in an opportune moment for the Swiss bank to partner with new clients, Castley said that they would stick to their policy to not take on U.S. clients.
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“Sygnum took the decision to not service U.S. clients at inception back in 2017 to enable full focus on our core target markets,” Castley wrote. “It has been a founding policy ever since, and as a result, we do not onboard any U.S. persons or entities as clients.”
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Amid the increase in entities interested in banking with Sygnum, Castley said the firm attributes this to its dual Swiss and Singapore locations and strategy to be fully regulated in these respective jurisdictions.
Sygnum recently announced that it is opening its Middle East hub for Swiss-regulated crypto banking services in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) after securing financial services permission from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA).
Following Sygnum’s expansion efforts into the Middle East, the Swiss digital asset bank now looks to position itself in another jurisdiction that is also welcoming toward cryptocurrency. Aside from Abu Dhabi and Singapore, it has licensed operations in Luxembourg.
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