Zodia Custody to offer institutional-grade digital asset services in Singapore

Zodia Custody launched its intuitional digital asset services in Singapore on Tuesday in a bid towider growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

The development marks the first time a bank-owned entity will offer digital asset custody services to financial institutions in Singapore, the company said in a statement.

"Singapore is a market that has been no stranger to the crypto world for a long time," Zodia Custody CEO Julian Sawyer told CNBC.

Zodia Custody aims to expand throughout the Asia-Pacific region where it sees a rising demand from institutions for bank-grade custody of digital assets. The digital asset custodian added that the move would also allow it to respond more effectively to existing client demand for its services in the region.

The benefits of being a subsidiary of Standard Chartered

Zodia Custody was incorporated in the UK in 2020. The London-headquartered business is a subsidiary of Standard Chartered.

Sawyer emphasized the benefits of the firm's relationship with Standard Chartered when dealing with interested financial institutions.

"Being part of Standard Chartered comes up in every single conversation. We adopt their risk their compliance frameworks, information security, resilience, and people managing," he told CNBC.

Zodia Custody works with clients ranging from hedge funds and high-frequency traders to prime brokers, exchanges and asset managers. The firm is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority to operate in the UK, and the company also holds registrations by the Central Bank of Ireland and Luxembourg's Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier. It has an application pending with regulatory authorities in Japan.