Standard Chartered is moving to absorb the core crypto custody operations of its majority-owned subsidiary Zodia Custody into the bank’s Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) division, according to sources familiar with the matter. The plan, reported by Bloomberg, could be announced as early as April 2026. The integration aims to eliminate duplicate custody functions that currently run in parallel inside the bank and inside Zodia Custody, which Standard Chartered launched in late 2020 through its innovation arm SC Ventures alongside Northern Trust.
Integration Details and SaaS Model
The discussions remain private and ongoing, with an announcement potentially arriving within April 2026. The plan calls for merging overlapping custody operations while allowing Zodia Custody to continue operating as a standalone software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. This model will enable Zodia to offer white-label crypto custody to other financial institutions under their own branding. The practical outcome is a split identity: custody services for the bank’s clients folded inward, while the SaaS business faces outward toward third-party banks and fintechs.
Standard Chartered has been building direct digital asset custody and trading services inside its CIB division since at least 2024, including UAE-focused custody services launched in September of that year. Running the same function through both CIB and a separate venture entity created redundancy, which the integration would eliminate.
Zodia Custody's Regulatory Footprint
Zodia Custody holds regulatory licenses in the UK under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Luxembourg under the MiCA framework, Hong Kong, and Singapore. It operates from seven offices globally and supports custody for more than 75 cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets. The firm has positioned itself since inception as “born from banking, built for digital assets,” with bank-grade compliance and insolvency protections built into its framework.
Minority stakeholders include Japan’s SBI Holdings, National Australia Bank (NAB), and Emirates NBD. It is unclear whether those shareholders have been formally consulted. No official statement from Standard Chartered or Zodia Custody had been issued as of Wednesday, April 8, 2026.
Standard Chartered's Broader Crypto Push
Standard Chartered’s crypto expansion has accelerated through SC Ventures, its venture and fintech investment arm. The portfolio includes Zodia Markets, an institutional trading and stablecoin payments platform (whose CEO Usman Ahmad departed in March 2026), and Libeara, a tokenization company. In January 2026, SC Ventures announced plans for a crypto prime brokerage.
The bank also signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s Hana Financial Group for stablecoin ventures and is positioned as a candidate for one of Hong Kong’s first stablecoin issuer licenses. In November 2025, it launched a stablecoin-linked credit card partnership in Singapore.
A 2025 partnership with Galaxy Digital saw Zodia Custody provide institutional staking services for European clients, covering $4.2 billion in assets at the time. Other integrations include Bitfinex, Membrane Labs, and Fireblocks through Zodia Markets.
Industry Trend: Banks Pulling Digital Assets Into Core Operations
The move mirrors a pattern gaining momentum across global banking. As regulatory clarity firms up in major jurisdictions, traditional banks are pulling digital asset functions out of experimental venture arms and into core regulated operations. The EU’s MiCA framework, the UAE’s VARA regime, and Hong Kong’s stablecoin licensing rules have each contributed to that shift.
Implications for Clients
For corporate and institutional clients of Standard Chartered, the integration could mean a single custody solution combining traditional securities and digital assets under one regulated entity, reducing operational friction on settlement and compliance. For Zodia Custody’s external clients, the SaaS model remains intact—banks and fintechs seeking a custody solution they can deploy under their own brand would still have access to the platform.