Stephanie Douse 
According to the CEO of DBS Bank, Singapore’s largest bank, the company is trying to extend its bitcoin exchange services beyond its present institutional client base and professional investors to embrace retail investors.
During DBS Bank‘s Q4 2021 results call on Monday, CEO Piyush Gupta discussed the bank’s cryptocurrency business, noting that the company will focus on steps to significantly develop its crypto exchange activities in 2022.
Gupta was questioned if DBS Bank has a plan in place to bring digital asset trading to regular investors during the call. While the CEO did not give a direct answer, he did state that DBS Bank had begun work to broaden its present investor base, saying:
“We’ve started doing the work on seeing how we get in a sensible way, take it out and expand it beyond the current investor base. And that includes making sure we appropriate thinking about things like potential fraud and others.”
He implied that DBS Bank would be unable to proceed with retail support for its crypto exchange until that work was completed, with associated advancements expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
“I believe it will be the end of the year before we can truly take something to market,” Gupta predicted. DBS Bank also intends to considerably improve its crypto trading platform in the first half or first three quarters of this year, according to Gupta.
DBS bank and the crypto market
According to the CEO, the bank intends to “make access to digital assets a lot more convenient” by permitting rapid online deposits and transactions without relying heavily on banking middlemen.
“What happens is that you’ve got 24/7, but the customers still need to call and speak to bankers. So the first order is to make it all online, make it self-service, make it instant and make sure the internal processes are robust to be able to support that.”
DBS Bank, as previously reported, has made a significant investment in the crypto market in recent years, launching its own institutional-grade crypto exchange in December 2020. The exchange’s supported digital asset offerings have been steadily expanding, with a crypto trust solution launching in May 2021.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore awarded DBS Vickers, the bank’s brokerage arm, license to conduct digital payment token services as a payment institution in August.