State-Owned Swiss Bank Postfinance to Offer Crypto Services to
Retail Customers
The banking
unit of the Swiss Post Office, the state-owned Postfinance, is reportedly
preparing to enter the crypto market. "Our clients want direct access to
this market through their house bank."
Swiss Post Office’s Banking Division to Provide Crypto Services
The Banking and Financial Services Division of Swiss Post, the state-owned enterprise responsible for
Switzerland’s postal and other essential public infrastructure services
is reportedly planning to offer its retail customers
crypto-related services.
The Swiss
Parliament established Postfinance in 1906 to provide payment services to
retail customers. Postfinance functioned as a division of Swiss Post till June
2013. Then it became a bank under Swiss law and is regulated by the Swiss
Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
The bank is
already providing crypto-related services to its customers through the Yuh
app, which it co-developed with the banking group Swissquote. "Yuh facilitates payment, saving, and investing in one package," its website informs.
Sandra
Lienhart, Postfinance's Head of Retail Banking, was quoted as saying:
"Our
clients want direct access to this market through their house bank... Given the
growing institutionalization [of cryptocurrencies] in the last 18 months, this
is the ideal time to enter the market."
Swiss Post
has been selling Crypto Stamps. The first collection was issued in November
2021 and consisted of 175,000 crypto stamps. They were sold out within five
hours.
Last week,
the post office announced that it was launching Swiss Crypto Stamp 2.0. Sources reveal, that "The second crypto stamp collection will be available at
selected branches and postshop.ch from August 8, 2022, with an issue of 250,000
stamps."
There will be ten different designs "reflecting the various values of Switzerland, such
as solidarity, sustainable thinking, peace, and diversity," the announcement
added, and when placed next to each other, the ten designs will form a
larger picture.
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