Standard Chartered Bank launches its cryptocurrency platform
Standard Chartered Bank of Great Britain plans to expand the range of services for institutional investors. Now they will be able to carry out operations with cryptocurrency through a special platform. To develop the platform, the bank concluded an agreement with BC Group, which owns the OSL platform in Hong Kong.
Standard Chartered is among the top 10 institutions in the UK in terms of assets. The crypto exchange will be available to the bank’s customers from European countries, here investors will be able to conclude transactions related to cryptocurrency.
The top manager of BC Group will take over the management of the platform, the post of chief operating officer is assigned to a representative of the bank’s venture capital arm.
The popularity of cryptocurrency is growing, and financial institutions have to reckon with this asset. Therefore, many banks include digital money operations in the list of available services. Not long ago, Goldman Sachs, one of the largest US investment banks, recognized bitcoin as an asset class. In addition, representatives of the company noted an increase in demand for another cryptocurrency, Ethereum.
Standard Chartered was founded in 1969 by the merger of several banks. The main office is in London, although the company does not have offices in the UK, its activities are concentrated in Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asian countries.
In terms of assets and profits, the bank is included in the Forbes Global 2000 list, and is considered globally significant.
The history of the bank begins at the time of the collapse of colonial systems, when large financial institutions were forced to close their branches in colonies or they were nationalized. At the same time, banking services in such states as Hong Kong, Nigeria, Singapore, were extremely profitable and popular. In order not to lose a good market, and to stop competing, the banks agreed to merge. By the 1970s, Standard and Chartered began to expand and acquire smaller institutions. At the same time, assets were diversified, the company began trading in precious metals, and offered machinery leasing for the European market. At the same time, the retail network functioned and developed exclusively in the regions of Africa and Asia, but not in Great Britain. By 1990, the bank had offices in all the countries of Asia Pacific, in addition, Standard and Chartered bought an institution in Peru, opened offices in Colombia and Venezuela. In 1999, it entered the Chinese market.
In 2000, Standard and Chartered bought a bank from Australia, which also operated in New Zealand.
In addition, British financial corporation has a subsidiary in Hong Kong and a company that manufactures credit cards. In 2008, Standard and Chartered absorbed American Express Bank.
