According to Bloomberg, HSBC, one of Britain’s largest banks, has announced that it will collaborate with Metaco, a technology company owned by Ripple Labs, on custody services that it expects to implement in 2024.
Accordingly, HSBC plans to offer custodial services to corporate clients for digital assets such as tokenized securities, the latest move in the financial space.
At this point, Switzerland-based Ripple company Metaco will ensure that HSBC customers’ assets are kept safe.
The bank stated that this partnership completes the digital asset issuance platform known as HSBC Orion and HSBC’s tokenized physical gold service, which was launched on November 1, 2023.
HSBC plans to launch custodial services for corporate customers in 2024.
In its statement, HSBC stated that custodial services currently include “tokenized securities” and pointed out that custodial services do not include cryptocurrencies or stablecoins.
“These services underline HSBC’s commitment to the overall development of the digital asset markets,” said John O’Neill, head of HSBC’s global digital asset strategy.
As you may recall, Ripple bought Metaco for $250 million in May this year. Ripple also announced that it estimates that the institutional crypto custody market alone could reach nearly $10 trillion by 2030.