DBS unveils plans to launch retail digital assets trading desk this year

Singaporean financial services group DBS is looking to expand its digital assets trading services offering to its retail customers by year-end, the company’s CEO Piyush Gupta revealed in an earning’s call Monday. DBS launched its digital assets trading desk for institutional investors last year.

“We are starting the initial work to expand it beyond the current investor base,” Piyush Gupta said during the earnings call. “And that includes the appropriate thinking about suitability and the potential for fraud… we are looking for an end of year [launch] to take something to market.”

DBS is currently the largest bank in Southeast Asia by assets under management with over 280 branches across 18 markets. With a presence in practically every Asian country, DBS saw a spike in profits for the year 2021, growing its net gains by more than 44% to reach 6.8 billion Singapore dollars.

In late 2020, the company announced plans to launch a “full-service digital exchange” for institutional and accredited investors that allows “tokenization, trading and custody ecosystem for digital assets.” At the time, DBS received approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to launch the above services.

While Singapore is touted as one of the most crypto-friendly nations, its central bank and regulator is looking to maintain an equally tough stance on crypto service providers. The regulator recently issued guidelines to limit crypto trading service providers from promoting their services to the public.

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