Philippines’ Union Bank Plans To Offer Crypto Trading And Custody Service

Philippines based Union Bank (UB) is reportedly planning to offer bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading and custody services to its clients.

The move aims to capitalize on the fast crypto adoption in the Philippines, as the average investor in the country is expected to hold between 3% and 5% of their personal assets in cryptocurrency in five years, according to a report by Bloomberg.

According to Cathay Casas, head of the bank’s blockchain and application programming interface group, at the moment these figures are approximately 1% to 2%.

She said the new offerings represent “a way to future-proof our banking business.”

“We are making efforts to educate our clients also via social media, making sure that they are safe,” Casas continued.

The Union Bank of the Philippines was incorporated in 1968 and has over 3,000 employees. It offers a wide range of financial services to corporate and consumer clients, including investment management, trust banking, insurance brokerage, currency brokerage, and private banking services.

UB’s planned custodial services for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies would also be capable of encompassing tokenized bonds, according to Casas.

The Union Bank became the first Philippine bank to launch its own stablecoin in 2019 to provide rural banks in its network easier access to remittances and payments.

However, Philippines’ central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno has warned that cryptocurrencies could “pose a danger to the financial system” as they are “very vulnerable” to illicit activities.

In reality, any medium of exchange, such as completely anonymous cash, can be utilized by criminals, and blaming the tool rather than the person using it is not really a credible argument.

For example, one of the largest cases of money laundering schemes uncovered to date involved U.S. dollars and the international bank HSBC. In contrast, bitcoin’s usage for illicit activities has been in decline.