Banking Giant DBS to Launch Crypto Trading for Retail Clients

DBS, Singapore’s leading bank, announced its plan to launch a retail crypto trading desk by the end of the year. Likewise, the bank is working on expanding its crypto exchange beyond its current base of institutional clients. This was stated by the bank’s CEO Piyush Gupta in its fourth-quarter earnings call. 

Gupta did not have a clear answer when asked about the bank’s roadmap for rolling out digital assets trading to retail investors. But, he said that DBS did initiate some work so that it could increase its current investor base. Furthermore, he explained that their focus in the first half was to make digital assets more convenient for customers. And, they plan to do this by enabling instant online deposits and transactions without relying much on banking intermediaries.

CEO Gupta said:

We’ve started doing the work to see how we can in a sensible way take it out and expand it beyond the accredited investor base. And that includes making sure we have the appropriate thinking about suitability and potential fraud.

Moreover, Gupta added that they were looking toward the end of the year to take something to the market. Also, DBS expects to improve its crypto trading platform in the first half or in the first three-quarters of 2022.

DBS has always been a front-runner in all matters digital. It was the first bank in the country to launch a digital asset exchange. The multinational bank has been foraying into the crypto space in recent years, making a massive move in 2020. In December 2020, DBS had set up its own crypto exchange. It had also launched a crypto trust solution in May 2021.