Union Bank of the Philippines to Enhance Crypto Trading & Custody Services

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) plans to choose Metaco and IBM to enhance cryptocurrency trading and custody services, taking advantage of the Asian country's rapid adoption of digital tokens.

Upon completion of this integration, UnionBank will improve the insurability of assets, how keys are managed and migrated through FIPS 140-2 Level 4 certified controls, the highest level of the U.S. government computer security standard

The bank's head of blockchain, Cathy Casas, said the average Filipino could hold 3 ~ 5% of their personal assets in digital tokens such as bitcoin within five years, up from the current percentage. 1~2% or so.

Patrick Enjalbal, VP Customer Success managing director of Asia-Pacific region at Metaco said that:

"With the recent launch of our APAC headquarters in Singapore, we can ensure that we continue to offer best-in-class services to UnionBank and other clients in the region."

Metaco is an enterprise cryptocurrency platform that protects, trades, issues, and manages digital assets. UnionBank integrates digital asset management services on IBM Cloud through Metaco's solution.

Founded in 1982, UnionBank is one of the largest banks in the Philippines, with assets under management totalling $15 billion. As reported by blockchain.News on August 18, 2021, UnionBank announced that the bank has paired with Hong Kong-based Hex Trust to pilot digital assets custody service.

The UnionBank of the Philippines and Standard Chartered (StanChart) have created a proof of concept required in the issuance of a blockchain-powered retail bond. The blockchain platform intended for bond tokenization was co-developed by SC Ventures, StanChart's innovation and ventures arm, and UnionBank on 2020.

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