Swiss Private Bank Maerki Baumann Secures UAE Crypto Unit Approval - Traditional Finance Makes Major Digital Move
Switzerland's conservative banking fortress just punched a hole in the regulatory wall—and crypto's on the other side.
Maerki Baumann, a Zurich-based private bank with over 80 years of tradition, didn't just dip a toe. It secured formal approval to launch a dedicated cryptocurrency business unit in the United Arab Emirates. This isn't a side project; it's a strategic beachhead.
The Institutional Stamp
Forget fly-by-night exchanges. This move carries the weight of Swiss banking compliance meeting UAE's ambitious digital asset framework. It signals a seismic shift: institutional-grade custody, trading, and advisory services for digital assets are now bank business. The old guard isn't just watching—they're building the vaults.
Why the UAE?
The Emirates have positioned themselves as a global crypto hub with clear regulations. For a Swiss bank, it's the perfect testing ground—a progressive jurisdiction with deep capital pools. It's a calculated bypass of Europe's fragmented rules, a direct line to high-net-worth investors hungry for digital asset exposure without the usual cowboy-risk. (Because nothing says 'secure your future' like betting on internet money, but with a private banker holding the keys.)
The Ripple Effect
Watch other private banks follow. When one breaks rank, the herd gets nervous. This approval legitimizes crypto as a bona fide asset class for the wealth management world. It forces every family office and institutional portfolio manager to re-evaluate their 'no crypto' policy. The pipes of traditional finance are now being laid directly into the digital economy.
A new phase begins—not with a bang from a startup, but with the quiet click of a banker's pen on a regulator's dotted line. The money is coming, and it's wearing a very expensive suit.
Maerki Baumann gets UAE green light
Maerki Baumann, under the brand ARCHIP, will offer liquidity management, services in trading, custody, staking, and the management of digital assets for private, institutional, and corporate clients. The services will be provided by the Tech Banking department in Zurich, which has extensive experience in supporting hundreds of tech companies and individuals from the crypto community.
The Middle East presence will be headed by Andreas Froehlicher, a lawyer who previously served as General Counsel and Head Legal & Compliance at Maerki Baumann. Froehlicher noted that their presence in Abu Dhabi allows the bank to connect directly with local tech, blockchain and crypto companies and that the bank will offer a combination of blockchain knowledge with Swiss service quality.
Stephan A. Zwahlen, CEO of Maerki Baumann, noted that the license was a milestone, and part of their international expansion and their commitment to offering first-class banking services to technology-focused companies.
ADGM’s Chief Market Development Officer, Arvind Rammaurthy, also weighed in, noting that this is in line with ADGM’s positioning as a comprehensive regime for digital assets and tokenized financial instruments that include an expanding wealth management and private banking ecosystem.
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