UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti said Wednesday that the bank is exploring access to cryptocurrencies for private clients while building an infrastructure for tokenized deposits.
The announcement came as the Swiss bank reported a 53% increase in its annual net profit, to $7.8 billion.
« We are building the basic infrastructure and studying targeted offers, ranging from access to cryptocurrencies for retail clients to tokenized deposit solutions for businesses, » said Ermotti at the earnings conference.
The bank has adopted a 'fast follower' strategy on tokenized assets, with a deployment timeline spanning three to five years. Ermotti indicated that UBS will not be a 'first mover' in implementing blockchain-based technology.
What happened
UBS reported a net profit of $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter, up 56% year-on-year. The group's invested assets exceeded $7 trillion for the first time, up 15% year-on-year.
The bank is in the process of selecting partners for a potential cryptocurrency trading platform, according to Bloomberg reports published in January. An initial deployment could start in Switzerland for some wealthy clients.
UBS is already operating a tokenized money market fund on Ethereum and has allowed clients in Hong Kong to trade cryptocurrency futures ETFs in 2023. The bank had previously focused on tokenization rather than spot trading of cryptos.
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Why it matters
This evolution contrasts with UBS's earlier skepticism regarding cryptocurrencies. In 2017, senior officials, including global chief economist Paul Donovan, criticized bitcoin and questioned its function as money.
Other major banks have recently advanced similar projects focused on infrastructure. Barclays purchased a stake in the stablecoin settlement startup Ubyx this year, after joining in October 2024 a consortium of ten banks exploring a common stablecoin.
Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered have recently presented plans to expand cryptocurrency trading and prime brokerage services for institutional and wealthy clients.
UBS's expansion into digital assets complements its core wealth management business, according to Ermotti. The bank manages over $7 trillion in client assets.
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