Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is set to offer its customers crypto trading and custody services through a partnership with blockchain infrastructure provider METACO.
The financial institution is one of the largest universal banks in the Philippines, registered under the country’s central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
UnionBank also joined cohorts to obtain regulatory approval from the BSP to offer crypto products and services before the country recently closed its windows against companies seeking such licenses from local authorities. Hence, the introduction of the new investment and trading features on its mobile banking app.
Union Bank Partners METACO
According to the official announcement on Wednesday, the bank will tap Metaco’s flagship product and crypto asset platform, Harmonize, to pilot the project’s launch.
The digital asset trading and custody solution has been in development for six months. The project seeks to offer Filipinos opportunities to trade Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) on their banking apps with no additional crypto wallets to store their assets.
For now, the trading service is only available for selected customers.
The bank had previously signed a strategic partnership with the Swiss-based crypto company to develop the investment solution through its launch.
Henry Aguda, Chief Technology & Operations Officer at UnionBank, said the collaboration with METACO is significant in the bank’s pursuit of providing “customer-centric services” to the Philippines market.
“We are proud to continue UnionBank’s series of industry firsts, this time being the first regulated bank in the country allowing digital currency exchange features for clients,” said Aguda.
METACO to Manage UnionBank Crypto Services
Under the partnership, METACO will manage the operations and governance of the Union Bank’s exchange through Harmonize.
Harmonize will serve as a foundational orchestration platform to support the bank as it prepares to launch its suite of digital asset product offerings for Filipinos while future-proofing its business model.
“Our bank-grade digital asset orchestration platform, Harmonize, provides UnionBank with the optionality to securely explore a range of retail and institutional digital asset use-cases, from crypto custody, investment and trading, to the fast-growing metaverse economy in the Philippines,” Seamus Donoghue, Chief Growth Officer at METACO.
UnionBank has been exploring the crypto ecosystem since 2019, launching its own stablecoin pegged to the Philippine peso to facilitate cross-border payments.
Meanwhile, the company is not the first bank to launch crypto trading options for customers.
In March, Cowen Inc rolled out a crypto unit, Cowen Digital, that offers institutional customers options to trade virtual assets.
The investment bank’s customers can choose between different crypto assets, including BTC and ETH, to trade on the platform.
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Source: https://coinfomania.com/philippines-unionbank-rolls-out-crypto-trading-and-custody-services/