Digital assets focused SEBA receives Swiss banking licence
SEBA Crypto AG has become the first financial services provider with a main focus on digital assets to be granted a banking and securities dealer licence by the Swiss Financial Market Authority (FINMA), reports Jane Connolly.
The official go-live is expected to take place in October, as long as SEBA meets secondary criteria specified by FINMA. By that time SEBA’s partnership with Swiss bank, Julius Baer, will have come into effect.
Founded in 2018, SEBA plans to enable professional individuals and companies, as well as institutional clients, to invest, safely keep, trade and borrow against traditional and digital assets in one place.
Future offerings will include custody storage, trading and liquidity management and asset and wealth management. SEBA will also provide accounts and custody for fiat and digital assets to Swiss blockchain companies; plus, the new bank is developing investment products and digital asset tokenisation solutions.
“The banking licence of the Swiss Financial Market Authority FINMA is not only a milestone for SEBA, it sets a new standard for banking in the blockchain and digital asset economy,” says Andreas Amschwand, chairman of the board of SEBA. “This moment has significance far beyond the Swiss financial industry.”
Guido Bühler, CEO of SEBA, adds: “Today SEBA sets a new standard as a licensed integrated bank connecting the old and the new world. SEBA is a safe gateway between traditional banking and the digital asset market. We are proud to have built, in only 17 months, a licensed bank that fits into the digital environment of the 21st century.”
In September 2018, SEBA raised CHF 100 million ($101.7 million) in a funding round.
