The largest bank in Germany, Deutsche Bank, is requesting authorization from the regulatory body to provide custody services for digital assets, including cryptocurrency. A representative from Deutsche Bank indicated that the company’s decision to invest in digital assets is a part of a larger plan to increase fee income.
Deutsche Bank Submits A Digital Asset License Application
According to Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank AG, the largest bank in Germany by total assets, has applied to the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) for permission to provide custody services for digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.
At a conference on Tuesday, David Lynne, president of Deutsche Bank’s commercial banking division, said, “We’re growing our digital assets and custody business. The executive continued:
“We just put our application into the Bafin for the digital asset license.”
Lynne said that the action is a component of the massive lender’s larger effort to increase fee income within Deutsche Bank’s corporate bank. The publication stated that it also reflects similar efforts by Deutsche Bank’s asset management division, DWS Group, to increase revenue through solutions relating to digital assets.
Without specifying a particular launch date, Deutsche Bank’s business bank division first stated that it intended to offer digital asset custody in late 2020. When Lynne took over the division a year ago, Stefan Hoops, who served as its previous CEO before joining DWS, was in charge.
Bafin is in charge of giving licenses in Germany to organizations wishing to provide cryptocurrency services there. Beginning in 2020, the new Germany Money Laundering Act will allow financial institutions to offer crypto assets alongside more conventional investments like stocks and bonds to their consumers. More than 40 “expressions of interest” from banks were reportedly submitted to Bafin at the time in order to be granted permission to start a crypto custody business later on.
