Philippines’ Unionbank to Offer Crypto Trading and Custodial Services
One of the largest banks in the Philippines with $15 billion in assets under management, Unionbank, is starting a cryptocurrency trading and custodial services, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Also being one of the first financial institution in the country to adopt cryptocurrency Cathy Casas, Head of the bank’s Blockchain Group, said that an estimate of about 5% of total Filipino population has moved into cryptocurrency in some form.
Unionbank’s adoption of crypto, Casas added, is made with the future in mind. According to her, the average Filipino investor holds approximately 2% of their personal assets in a cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin. This will change, she said. If the markets are stable, it could move to as much as 5% allocation in five years. She said:
“It’s a way to future-proof our banking business.”
Unionbank partners with Metaco, a provider of security software and infrastructure for the digital asset ecosystem, for its digital asset management services. Services will be deployed on IBM Cloud.
Unionbank is one of the licensed cryptocurrency exchanges approved by the central bank of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Nevertheless, the bank has cautioned against investing in crypto. It believes that they can “pose a danger to the financial system” citing their vulnerability to illicit activities like money laundering and financing of terrorist activitites.
Casas stressed that the bank is aware of the dangers and said:
“We are making efforts to educate our clients also via social media, making sure that they are safe.”
In 2019, Unionbank launched its own stablecoin, PHX, to provide rural banks in its network with easier access to payments and remittances.
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Source: igaming
