Standard Chartered plans crypto, stablecoin and tokenised asset custody for Singapore institutional clients

Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited announced on October 8 that it plans to provide custody services for selected cryptoassets, stablecoins and tokenised real-world assets. The service is aimed at institutional clients and accredited investor corporate clients, and the bank said it is "subject to applicable regulatory requirements."

The bank has not announced a start date.

What the bank says it is building

The Singapore service is meant to sit inside the bank's Financing & Securities Services business. Standard Chartered says it will combine traditional asset servicing, tokenisation and digital asset custody.

The pitch is a single custodian across the asset lifecycle. In the bank's words, that means "from safeguarding and servicing traditional assets today, to tokenising and safeguarding digital assets within an institutional-grade custody framework."

Patrick Lee, CEO of Singapore and of ASEAN & South Asia at Standard Chartered, said: "Singapore is an important centre for financial innovation, with a strong institutional ecosystem and growing demand for trusted digital asset solutions." He added that "robust infrastructure will be critical to supporting the secure movement, safekeeping, and servicing of tokenised assets at an institutional scale."

Ole Matthiessen, the bank's Global Head of Transaction Services & Digital Assets, said "secure and regulated custody is a critical foundation of the digital asset ecosystem." He said the bank will keep investing in digital asset capabilities across key financial centres as client demand grows.

Part of a wider rollout

Singapore is not the first stop. Standard Chartered already offers digital asset custody in the UAE, Luxembourg and Hong Kong, and the bank describes Singapore as the next step in extending that footprint to more regulated markets.

The bank has also been building through Zodia Custody, the institutional custodian backed by its venture arm, SC Ventures. According to Crypto Briefing, Standard Chartered announced in May 2026 that it would acquire Zodia's regulated custody business, contingent on approvals. Under that plan, Zodia's operations would be folded into the Financing & Securities Services division. Zodia began operating in Singapore in September 2023.

Crypto Briefing also reported that Standard Chartered has partnered with Anchorage Digital Singapore to add institutional USD accounts and SWIFT transfer capability for digital assets, mirroring a setup that already exists in the United States. That detail rests on Crypto Briefing's account alone.

The same outlet cites the bank's scale as USD 2.2 trillion in assets under custody and more than 160 years of institutional experience. It says the bank's custody product keeps client assets segregated and offers statutory protections similar to those for traditional assets.

The regulator's role

The Monetary Authority of Singapore oversees custodians. Its requirements cover licensing, asset segregation, risk management and cybersecurity. Licensed custodians must meet obligations under the Payment Services Act and the Securities and Futures Act.

That is the context for the bank's "subject to applicable regulatory requirements" language. Standard Chartered has not said which approvals it still needs, or whether it has filed for them.

Why a bank is doing this

The bank's stated reason is client demand. Standard Chartered says institutional and corporate clients want "secure, regulated and bank-grade digital asset custody." The announcement includes no client numbers or revenue targets.

The timing sits against a rough day for crypto. Phemex News reported that the real-world asset sector fell 6.73% and Bitcoin slipped below $83,000 on October 8. No source ties the custody announcement to those moves, and custody is a slow, infrastructure-driven business rather than a trading one.

What comes next

Two things are still open. One is when the Singapore service goes live. The other is whether regulators clear the Zodia Custody acquisition, which Crypto Briefing says remains contingent on approvals. Until the bank names a launch date, Singapore institutions have a plan from Standard Chartered but no custody service yet.