Ripple Subsidiary Metaco Extends Partnership with Swiss Banking Giant

Swiss banking giant BBVA has expanded its partnership with Metaco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ripple Labs Inc., deepening its institutional crypto custody offering.

According to BBVA, it has migrated its crypto operations to Harmonize, the Metaco institutional custody outfit. The partnership will guarantee a robust engagement into crypto for BBVA considering how the Harmonize platform maintains integration with Avaloq Core, the software that supports banking and crypto offerings.

BBVA in Switzerland Plots New Crypto Regime

BBVA prides itself as the first tier 1 bank in the Eurozone to launch a combined mix of crypto custodial and trading services co-existing with traditional assets. The partnership with Metaco is one of the firm’s proactive moves to build on this legacy while giving its clients more value. 

As part of the partnership, the duo of Avaloq and Metaco will create a Software as a Service (SaaS) model to embody the crypto product offerings supported by BBVA in Switzerland. 

The key targets include speeding up transactions, providing an efficient system, and adhering to governance and regulating standards the industry has to live with.

Metaco: an Obvious Choice

The relationship between BBVA and Metaco dates back to June 2022 when the bank embraced the firm as its custody partner. BBVA’s crypto foray came in June 2021.

Metaco has built a name for itself as a key player in the institutional crypto custody space. Now under Ripple Labs’ umbrella after its acquisition, the attractiveness of the firm to major banking firms has grown in recent times.

As reported earlier by The Crypto Basic, HSBC also named Metaco as its partner as it launched its institutional crypto custody service. With growing high-profile clients, Metaco is expanding its influence and building on its record as an award-winning crypto infrastructure startup.