On Wednesday, an Austrian cooperative banking company named Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien (RLB NÖ-Wien), revealed its plan for advancing its services in the crypto industry.
Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien is an Austrian cooperative banking giant founded over a century ago. The bank is preparing to launch crypto investment services in collaboration with a local crypto firm Bitpanda.
According to a joint announcement released today, RLB NÖ-Wien intends to provide its clients with a broad range of cryptocurrencies through Bitpanda’s software as a service (SaaS) offering. The crypto investment will be featured alongside investment services for stocks, exchange-traded funds, precious metals, and commodities.
The deal with Bitpanda aims to expand our product range with an innovative, secure facet and enable all customers to easily accumulate wealth.
Michael Höllerer, CEO of RLB NÖ-Wien
The new project aims to allow the bank’s customers to invest in various assets regardless of the amount of available capital, enabling investments from as minuscule as one Euro.
Sources reveal that the Bitpanda executives are also very hopeful about the collaboration. Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, Deputy CEO of the firm briefed the media that RLB NÖ-Wien wants to make the new trading option available to all customer segments.
Hence, the project will roll out for the retail, private banking, and corporate customers of RLB NÖ-Wien. He added that the upcoming new offering would feature a wide range of digital asset offerings, which consists of over 2,500 assets, including Bitcoin and Ether.
He also said that both the bank and the firm are committed to making crypto trading available as soon as possible, adding:
Thanks to the way we have built Bitpanda Technology Solutions we are able to integrate our infrastructure quickly and safely, and plan to make trading available by the end of the year.
With the increasing prominence of cryptocurrencies and digital assets in large, financial institutions across the globe have considered the idea of a switch to a more efficient technology.
While the regulators have warned banks for being too interested in crypto, their enthusiasm doesn’t seem to fade. A few weeks ago, Deutsche Bank launched Project DAMA (Digital Assets Management Access) which aims to offer a more effective, safe, and adaptable alternative for digital fund management and investment service.
In terms of institutional investors, Barclays, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs are some of the most active backers of the crypto sectors and various blockchain startups. Additionally, JP Morgan unveiled a blockchain-based cross-border solution.