Santander offers Bitcoin, ETH trading for Swiss account holders: Report

The international arm of Spanish lender Banco Santander has reportedly launched a new service that allows customers with Swiss accounts to invest and trade Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

According to a report from CoinDesk, an insider contact can be found, with high-income individuals at Santander Private Banking International trading BTC and ETH. Cointelegraph could not independently confirm the development as Santander had not responded to comments by the time of writing.

While Santander's new crypto trading service will only launch with BTC and ETH, the banking giant will introduce other cryptocurrencies once the screening criteria are approved.

According to the report, Santander has launched BTC and ETH trading services at the request of customers through contact managers. The bank holds the private encryption keys of the assets it sells in a controlled model.

Related: DZ Bank, Germany's third largest bank, to launch crypto tutoring for institutional investors

Commerzbank recently became the first “full-service” German bank to be licensed as a crypto custodian in the country within the legal framework of German banking law.

The license allows the bank to develop crypto assets and “additional digital asset services” in the future.

“This underscores our continued commitment to implementing new technologies and innovations, and forms the basis for supporting our customers with digital assets,” said Commerzbank Chief Operating Officer Jorge Oliver del Castillo-Schulz.

The bank initially plans to establish a platform that is “safe and secure” and fully compliant with environmental regulations.

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