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Standard Chartered Plans Singapore Crypto Custody With Stablecoins by Year-End
Bank links new offering to financing, securities services and broader digital asset expansion
TL;DR
- Standard Chartered plans Singapore custody for selected crypto assets, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets.
- The service will target institutional and accredited-investor corporate clients, subject to regulatory requirements.
- Ying Ying Tan said the bank aims to launch the custody offering by the end of the year.
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Standard Chartered plans to expand its digital asset custody business into Singapore, offering institutional clients custody for selected crypto assets, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets, subject to regulatory requirements. Ying Ying Tan, global head for digital assets at Standard Chartered, said the bank is targeting a launch by the end of the year.
Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited will limit the service to institutional and accredited-investor corporate clients, excluding retail customers. The custody offering will sit within the bank’s Financing & Securities Services business alongside traditional asset servicing and tokenization. Standard Chartered said the setup could allow clients to move between holding conventional securities and tokenized versions of those securities. The bank’s public release did not identify specific crypto tokens or stablecoin issuers.
Tan said institutions are showing growing interest in tokenized funds, exchange-traded funds and precious metals, as well as more efficient ways to hold, transfer and mobilize those assets. Standard Chartered said the Singapore service would help it “expand its support of institutional clients across wider asset lifecycles.”
Singapore extends Standard Chartered’s existing custody footprint
The planned Singapore rollout would extend Standard Chartered’s digital asset custody presence beyond the UAE, Luxembourg and Hong Kong. Patrick Lee, Standard Chartered’s CEO for Singapore, ASEAN and South Asia, said: “Singapore is an important centre for financial innovation, with a strong institutional ecosystem and growing demand for trusted digital asset solutions.”
“Robust infrastructure will be critical to supporting the secure movement, safekeeping, and servicing of tokenised assets at an institutional scale,” Lee added.
Ole Matthiessen, global head of transaction services and digital assets, said: “Secure and regulated custody is a critical foundation of the digital asset ecosystem.” Matthiessen pointed to Standard Chartered’s status as a global systemically important bank and said the bank would continue investing in digital asset capabilities in major financial centers as client demand grows.
Zodia integration accompanies wider institutional crypto push
Standard Chartered’s custody expansion also comes as the bank moves more of its crypto custody operations in-house. Standard Chartered incubated institutional custodian Zodia Custody with Northern Trust in 2020. Bloomberg reported in April that the bank was considering folding parts of Zodia into its corporate banking division. Standard Chartered said in May that its non-binding offer had been accepted, with regulatory approvals still required.
Zodia has operated in Singapore since September 2023, when it began offering institutional crypto asset services there, before later expanding into Hong Kong. Zodia secured a payment institution license in Luxembourg in June, allowing it to provide regulated stablecoin custody and transfer services across the European Union. The latest Singapore announcement did not say whether Standard Chartered’s Zodia transaction had been finalized.
Standard Chartered has also expanded other institutional crypto services. Its UK unit has processed deliverable spot bitcoin and ether trades for institutions since July 2025, while its Dubai arm began offering the same service last month through its foreign-exchange platform. The bank is also moving Singapore dollars in real time for Coinbase customers in Singapore, an arrangement reported in December that covers trading, custody, staking and lending. Institutional customers can settle crypto trades with any custodian, including Standard Chartered.
“We aim to launch our custody offering to hold selected crypto, stablecoins and tokenized real world assets by the end of the year,” Tan said.
This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.
