Swiss bank Julius Baer Group has revealed plans to launch new services in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, to offer its wealthy clients options to gain exposure to this new digital asset class.
Julius Baer, founded in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1890, is the last major bank to offer its clients services in cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.
The new cryptocurrency services, which will be explicitly targeted at clients and high-net-worth individuals, will help the Swiss bank offer new investment options to its customers, while reinforcing its digital transformation strategy. Despite having more than 130 years of history, Julius Baer wants to stay at the forefront of new technologies and innovations, to take its business to the next frontier of digital and decentralized finance.
Philipp Rickenbacher, CEO of Julius Baer Group, explained that the bank is entering a new phase of growth and transformation, where the provision of financial services based on digital assets will play a fundamental role.
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For Rickenbacher, although cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, they represent a new and emerging class of assets that can offer great opportunities to their investors. Julius Baer seeks to position itself firmly at the interface of digital assets and the fiat world through cryptocurrencies, Rickenbacher noted.
In recent years, the bank's perspective on cryptocurrencies has potentially changed. In 2017, the Swiss bank had published an interview in which analyst Alberto Perucchini recommended that investors stay away from these assets.
Julius Baer to explore the potential of Bitcoin and DeFi
The Swiss bank's representative indicated that the entity will create its own research division, which will help it explore cryptocurrencies and new technologies, to integrate them into its innovative holistic crypto-based wealth management proposal.
Julius Baer Group will launch a wealth management system that will focus primarily on Bitcoin, although it will also include other cryptocurrencies. This way, its wealthy clients will be able to navigate, in a regulated environment, the new opportunities offered by the cryptoasset industry.
As for DeFi, Rickenbacher noted that the bank is prepared to deal with disruptions that will inevitably offer the ecosystem of decentralized finance.
The Swiss bank's investment manager, Yves Bonzon, also noted that cryptocurrencies are moving beyond their utopian phase, allowing companies and institutions to explore their underlying technology, blockchain, to close the gap between the digital and traditional financial systems.
Earlier this month, Liechtenstein-based LGT Bank, which is owned by the Liechtenstein royal family, also joined the cryptocurrency and digital asset innovation movement.
In a statement, LGT Bank informed its clients that it had partnered with the Swiss crypto bank SEBA Bank to open a new line of services for direct investment in Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two main cryptocurrencies on the market.
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