Zurich-based digital asset bank Sygnum sees international cryptocurrency firms looking for new banking partners following the recent collapse of a crypto-friendly U.S. bank.
Sygnum’s chief marketing officer, Dominic Castle, told Cointelegraph in an email that they are receiving more onboarding inquiries from cryptocurrency companies in various jurisdictions looking to partner with them. He explained: “Over the past few weeks, as current banking events unfold, we have seen a significant increase in onboarding inquiries from various international locations, including some from the UAE and the Middle East.”
Castle added that new onboarding inquiries come primarily from investors, asset managers and blockchain projects looking to diversify their crypto investments. He explained that the Swiss bank is ramping up efforts to expand its customer service support and compliance teams "to welcome these new clients in a fast but fully compliant manner."
Signature Bank, Silvergate Capital and Silicon Valley Bank experienced collapses in March, leaving U.S. cryptocurrency firms scrambling to do business with institutions. While recent events have provided the Swiss bank with an opportune time to work with new clients, Carsley said Sygnum will stick to its policy of not accepting U.S. clients. "Sygnum made the decision at its inception in 2017 not to serve US customers in order to be able to focus entirely on our core target market," Castle wrote. "It's been a founding policy ever since, and as a result, we won't have any U.S. person or entity as a customer."
As more and more entities are interested in Sygnum's banking business, Castle said the company attributes this to its dual locations in Switzerland and Singapore and its strategy of being fully regulated in those respective jurisdictions.
Sygnum recently announced that it will open a Swiss-regulated Middle East center for crypto banking services in the Abu Dhabi Global Market after receiving a financial services license from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority. Following Sygnum's expansion into the Middle East, the Swiss digital asset bank now hopes to position itself in another jurisdiction that also welcomes cryptocurrencies. In addition to Abu Dhabi and Singapore, it has a license to operate in Luxembourg.
