CEO Of Australia’s Largest Bank: Bigger Risk Not To Participate In Crypto
According to Matt Comyn, the CEO of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) – the largest bank in the country – there are risks to participate in crypto, but they see “bigger risks in not participating.”
The CEO of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Matt Comyn, spoke about the fear of missing out (FOMO) on bitcoin and cryptocurrency in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Sydney. Commonwealth Bank, or Commbank, is the largest Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the U.S, and the U.K.
According to Comyn cryptocurrencies are “very volatile and speculative,” but banks should be involved in crypto and blockchain technology, as the demand from customers to trade crypto grows. Comyn said:
“We see risks in participating, but we see bigger risks in not participating.”
The bank CEO stressed that “it’s important to say we don’t have a view on the asset class itself,” and that “We see it as a very volatile and speculative asset.”
But the bank firmly believes that crypto is not going to disappear. He continued:
“We also don’t think that the sector and the technology is going away anytime soon. So we want to understand it, we want to provide a competitive offering to customers with the right disclosures around risks.”
Talking about central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) Cowyn said:
“Many central banks are looking at the applicability of a central-bank digital currency, what would that look like, what would the benefits be of that.
That’s something we’d like to participate in. We think it’s important that Australia is building capability and piloting different versions of the future. We are hopeful we can play a role in that.”
CBA announced earlier this month that it will be providing some customers with the ability to buy, sell, and hold crypto assets directly through its app in partnership with crypto exchange Gemini.
“CBA will provide customers with access to up to ten selected crypto assets including bitcoin, ethereum, bitcoin cash, and litecoin.
The pilot will start in the coming weeks and CBA intends to progressively roll out more features to more customers in 2022.”
