In a groundbreaking collaboration unveiled on the prestigious Singapore Fintech Pageant 2023, the esteemed 179-year-old personal financial institution Bordier & Cie has joined forces with the modern digital asset financial institution Sygnum, marking a convergence of custom and cutting-edge monetary options. Bordier & Cie is poised to turn out to be Sygnum Singapore’s inaugural B2B (business-to-business) shopper, ushering in a brand new period of wealth administration. This strategic partnership permits the Swiss personal financial institution to entry and supply digital asset companies to its discerning clientele.
Below this transformative alliance, purchasers of Bordier & Cie Singapore achieve the power to interact within the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies and numerous digital belongings, together with stablecoins, actual property, and digital representations of firm shares. Sygnum, having secured its full main cost establishment license (MPI) from the Financial Authority of Singapore (MAS) simply final month, solely affords this complete suite of digital belongings to accredited buyers.
In an unique interview with The Edge Singapore, Sygnum’s co-founder and CEO, Mathias Imbach, and Bordier & Cie Singapore’s CEO, Evrard Bordier, revealed that this strategic collaboration originated from joint operations in Switzerland in January 2021, and its extension to Singapore underscores the resilience of their partnership amid evolving market dynamics.
As the worldwide monetary panorama experiences the crypto winter that commenced in 2022, questions come up concerning the worth proposition of granting personal wealth purchasers entry to digital belongings by means of Sygnum. Addressing these considerations, Imbach and Bordier emphasised the symbiotic nature of their collaboration, grounded in a shared imaginative and prescient for the longer term.
Evrard Bordier, a fifth-generation member of the household that based Bordier & Cie, expressed a proactive method to embracing change inside the trade. He acknowledged the crucial of not overlooking the transformative potential of cryptocurrencies, aiming to place the personal financial institution on the forefront of evolving shopper preferences.
Towards the backdrop of a notable surge in consciousness and understanding of cryptocurrencies amongst personal wealth purchasers, Bordier emphasised the strategic significance of providing digital belongings as a part of the financial institution’s suite of companies. Roughly half of Bordier’s clientele, primarily hailing from Asia, represents a mixture of generational and new wealth.
Whereas recognizing the market’s curiosity in cryptocurrencies throughout the growth of 2020 and 2021, Bordier affirmed that digital belongings wouldn’t dominate their purchasers’ portfolios. As a substitute, they’re seen as a strategic part to facilitate a gradual understanding of this asset class inside a long-term legacy planning technique.
Sygnum, distinguished for its dedication to serving accredited buyers and household places of work, emphasised the long-term perspective adopted by its purchasers. In distinction to retail buying and selling patterns pushed by the “concern of lacking out,” Sygnum’s purchasers prioritize a prudent, long-term method to digital asset investments.
The aftermath of cryptocurrency scandals in recent times has prompted a name for enhanced trade rules, positioning Sygnum favorably attributable to its stringent regulatory method. Imbach highlighted the rising diligence amongst buyers in assessing counterparty dangers, contributing to Sygnum’s sturdy development.
In a panorama the place numerous monetary entities are venturing into digital asset companies, Bordier & Cie’s collaboration with Sygnum stands out as a result of latter’s all-in-one-account method. Sygnum’s potential to supply a complete suite of companies, encompassing buying and selling infrastructure, compliance, threat administration, and analysis, performed a pivotal function in Bordier & Cie’s choice.
As each banks navigate the nascent phases of the digital asset ecosystem, they anticipate a shift from native regulatory readability to broader worldwide requirements, unlocking important potential for cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. Within the phrases of Imbach, “This can unleash a number of potential in crypto and stablecoins,” signaling a forward-looking perspective as they pioneer this intriguing intersection of conventional and digital finance.