One of the largest banking groups in Germany intends to launch a cryptocurrency trading service for interested customers this year. This is DZ Bank, a group consisting of over 700 local banks.
DZ Bank and cryptocurrency trading
DZ Bank is the bank behind the cooperative financial network. Souad Benkredda, responsible for capital market operations at the brand’s management board, told Bloomberg that the banks that are part of the network will begin testing the system for trading bitcoin and a wide range of other cryptocurrencies.
Within a year, we will enter the pilot phase of retail cryptocurrency trading with the first cooperative banks… We do not want to offer trading in just one cryptocurrency, but many cryptocurrencies. This is important to us
– said Bencredda.
Initially, in implementing the new project, DZ Bank was to cooperate with Deutsche WertpapierService Bank AG (DWP Bank), a provider of securities services for savings banks, cooperative societies and private banks. However, the contract was not signed. Another partnership between DZ Bank and an as yet unknown entity stood in the way.
Benkredda emphasized in an interview with Bloomberg that his company’s trading services will provide investors with the ability to make their own decisions. In other words, customers will trade digital assets independently, without advice from bank advisors.
But where does this DZ strategy come from? It turns out that the demand for such services is high. A study by the Geno Association shows that every second cooperative bank wants to be able to offer cryptocurrency trading to its clients.
Cooperation with Metaco and development of the German market
Everything fits into the broader picture of what is happening in Germany. First of all, this happens about a year after DZ Bank established cooperation with the Swiss company Metaco and the Harmonize platform. The idea is to offer digital asset custody services to institutional clients. In turn, DWS Group, a German asset management company, is preparing to introduce cryptocurrency ETF funds for retail investors to the European market.
