With a view to following in the footsteps of other banking giants operating in Latin America such as Nubank, BTG Pactual and Itaú, Banco Santander this week began offering services with bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies to clients in the region, starting in Brazil.
The financial institution, recognized as one of the most important in Spain, provides its services with cryptocurrencies through the digital investment platform Toro.
The founder and executive president of the brokerage, João Resende, explained that the offer is initially extended to selected clients, who You can now operate with bitcoin and etherthe Ethereum cryptocurrency. The idea is that the financial institution’s clients will have access to the two largest cryptocurrencies on the market.
“The product will be aimed at clients with an aggressive risk profile,” stated the Toro manager, clarifying that the new service It will be gradually extended to the entire active client base of the brokeragewhich already exceeds one million.
Resende says the bank is considering offering other digital currencies, in addition to tokenized assets. “It is a first step we are taking,” he said.
Based on the success of this new offer, Santander will promote the expansion of the service to other branches of the bank.
With this offer, Santander is expanding its services related to cryptoassets, adding financial instruments that it has already been offering for some time, iincluding exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and investment funds. Although they are aimed at private banking and specific segments.
Resende says that the launch of the new trading service is a response to studies carried out by Santander for approximately three years.
He admits that they had delays in releasing cryptocurrency businesses due to compliance issues. “We wanted to make sure we offered a product with a complete educational and security focus”
It is worth remembering that, since last year, the Spanish bank opened services bitcoin and Ethereum trading for clients of its subsidiary in Switzerland.
These are new services that respond to a change in position on the bitcoin ecosystem, which the bank highlighted in 2023. This, after having restricted, in 2022, transactions from the entity to bitcoin exchanges, as required by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority.
Alongside Santander, other major Brazilian banks such as Itaú, Nubank, Inter and BTG Pactual are increasingly taking steps to allow their Latin American clients access to cryptocurrencies.
They follow a global trend promoted in recent years by global banking giants. Among them, large German banks such as Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and DZ Bank stand out.
There are several reasons that explain the phenomenon. As CriptoNoticias has reported, one of them is the growing interest shown by institutional clients for cryptocurrencies and which forces these institutions to approach the bitcoin ecosystem.
