According to Bloomberg, UBS Group AG is in the early stages of planning to offer wealthy customers digital currency investments.The report indicates that the firm interest in pursuing digital assets is in response to client demand. UBS, the Swiss banking giant currently has approximately $3.5 trillion in assets under its management.
UBS Group sees making the move into digital assets, as staying ahead of the proverbial financial curve. An unnamed source reported that any crypto investment would represent a small allocation of a portfolio to hedge against price volatility and that they may include “third party investment vehicles.” though full details are yet to be confirmed, “We are monitoring the developments in the field of digital assets closely,” UBS said in a statement. It continued, “Importantly, we are most interested in the technology which underpins digital assets, namely the distributed ledger technology.”
UBS wouldn’t be the first institutional player in the finance sector to look into crypto this year, as digital assets become more popular, more global securities firms are offering digital assets services. For instance, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is pushing deeper into the $1 trillion Bitcoin market and opened up trading with non-deliverable forwards, a derivative tied to Bitcoin’s price that pays out in cash. Morgan Stanley plans to give rich clients access to three funds that will enable ownership of crypto and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is developing a platform for traditional and digital assets. Citigroup is also considering crypto services.
