Absa becomes first African bank to offer digital asset custody services

PANews, October 2 – According to Bloomberg, Absa Group has become the first bank in Africa to offer digital asset custody. The bank has received regulatory approval from South Africa and will provide institutional clients in South Africa with secure custody, management and transfer services for digital assets, currently supporting Bitcoin, XRP Ledger, Ethereum and USDC, with plans to expand to other assets. Rob Downes, head of digital assets at Absa's Corporate and Investment Banking division, said the bank expects to extend the service to other client segments in South Africa in the future and to introduce it in other African countries where it operates once regulatory approval is obtained.