Deutsche Bank plans to launch a digital asset custody service for institutional and corporate clients in Europe this year, subject to the completion of the applicable regulatory process, according to a press release from the bank.
The service will allow clients to custody digital assets and transfer them to third parties, while Deutsche Bank manages the wallets and private keys. The initial offering is expected to cover Bitcoin and Ether, alongside selected stablecoins or e-money tokens including USDC, EURC and EURAU.
Custody and controls
The bank says its setup will include hardware-based protection for key generation, segregation of duties, multi-person approval processes and separate warm and cold storage environments. It will also use selected external technology and infrastructure providers for defined components.
Tokenised financial instruments are included in the bank’s roadmap, although the range of supported assets and the scope of the service may change following regulatory and internal approval processes.
The initial target clients are corporates, asset managers, hedge funds, custodians, brokers and sovereign institutions served by Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Bank and Investment Bank.
“Digital assets are not a replacement for the traditional financial system but an important complement to it,” said Gerald Podobnik, Co-Head Corporate Bank at Deutsche Bank. He said the bank sees them as “new rails that can coexist with existing market infrastructures”.
The bank said the service will be developed in line with client demand, regulatory requirements and its risk appetite.
