Samir Subberwal, the bank's Global Head of Wealth Solutions, Retail Products, Data and Analytics, confirmed the expansion in an interview published by the Korea Herald on April 14. The bank already holds crypto assets in custody for corporate clients. The new push brings that same infrastructure to private banking customers in a formal, bank-grade capacity.

"Bank custody is the important point in our digital assets plan. We already offer that to corporates, and we will extend that to high-net-worth customers this year," Subberwal said. He framed the offering as a security proposition rather than a trading pitch: "I think sophisticated customers will feel a lot more secure having the custody of their bitcoin with the bank. That's a differentiating proposition that we will bring to customers."

Custody, in plain terms, means the bank holds the private keys to a client's crypto rather than the client managing them directly or relying on a crypto exchange. For large holders, the difference matters considerably. Crypto exchanges have a documented history of failures and security incidents, and self-custody requires a level of technical competence that most wealth management clients prefer to delegate. A regulated bank stepping into this role occupies a distinct position in the market.

Building the Infrastructure Stack

Standard Chartered's move into private client custody follows a sequence of institutional buildout. In July 2025, the bank became the first G-SIB to offer deliverable spot Bitcoin and Ether trading to institutional clients through its UK branch, integrated directly into its foreign exchange platforms.

It launched digital asset custody services from Luxembourg the same year. In January 2026, Bloomberg reported the bank was preparing a crypto prime brokerage offering within SC Ventures, its innovation and investment arm.

The most significant structural development is the bank's plan to absorb Zodia Custody Ltd., its crypto custody subsidiary, into its Corporate and Investment Bank division. Zodia was co-founded in 2020 with Northern Trust, which exited its co-founding stake in 2023. Standard Chartered now holds a majority ownership, and the subsidiary employs around 150 staff across seven offices.

According to a CoinDesk report from April 8, Zodia may be preserved as a standalone software-as-a-service custody platform following the reorganization.

That distinction matters for markets outside the bank's direct footprint. If Zodia operates as licensable infrastructure, banks and fintechs in countries like India, Nigeria, and Kenya could eventually access regulated custody rails without building them from scratch.

SC Ventures also led a Series C investment round in Keyrock, a digital asset liquidity and market-making firm, in March 2026, valuing Keyrock at $1.1 billion. Alex Manson, SC Ventures CEO, described the rationale as conviction that "sophisticated liquidity infrastructure is foundational to the evolution of digital asset markets, as tokenized assets scale."

South Korea as a Test Case

Subberwal framed the private banking expansion in the context of Asia, with South Korea among the named markets.

The country has over 16 million crypto users, a number that exceeds its stock market investor base. Among wealthy South Koreans, approximately one in three holds digital assets, according to Hana Bank research. The top tier comprises more than 10,000 investors.

That client profile fits precisely what Standard Chartered is targeting. Its wealth solutions income grew 24% year over year and the bank recorded a record $52 billion in net new money in its full-year 2024 results.

The timing also aligns with a regulatory shift underway in Seoul. South Korea's ruling Democratic Party tabled the Digital Asset Basic Act as proposed legislation in April 2026. The bill would create formal licensing requirements for custody, trading, brokerage, and advisory services. Stablecoin issuers would need to hold reserves of 100% or more at banks or approved institutions. A 20% capital gains tax on annual crypto income above 50 million won (approximately $35,900) took effect in January 2026. Corporate crypto investment, banned for nine years, is now permitted up to 5% of equity capital for listed companies.

Each of those rules creates structural advantages for licensed, bank-backed custody providers relative to unregulated platforms. Analysts expect similar regulatory logic to play out across other Asian jurisdictions and major emerging markets in the coming years, with the pace dependent on each country's legislative priorities.

A Crowded Race With Room to Run

Standard Chartered is not the only traditional bank moving in this direction. Citi is targeting a 2026 launch for bank-grade Bitcoin custody infrastructure, and Morgan Stanley has expanded both custody and trading activity. The digital asset custody market held over $1 trillion in assets under management at the start of 2026 and is projected to exceed $7 trillion by 2035, growing at a compound annual rate of 23.7%.

A CoinTelegraph survey found six in ten Asian millionaires plan to increase their crypto allocations. Standard Chartered's implicit argument is that regulated custody at a G-SIB will attract a meaningful share of that capital into traditional banking relationships. Whether it succeeds depends on execution speed and, increasingly, on how quickly regulators across Asia and in key African markets such as Nigeria and Kenya build the frameworks that make that proposition legally meaningful. The potential Zodia SaaS model, if it proceeds following the reorganization, could give those markets a faster path to regulated custody infrastructure than building from scratch.