Santander Brazil, a unit of Spanish banking giant Banco Santander, will offer crypto-related services to institutional and individual clients in the coming months.
“We expect to have definitions about it in the next few months, who knows in the next release [of quarterly results]or even earlier,” CEO Mario Leo told folha d’s paulo,
Santander believes crypto is here to stay
“We believe this is a market that is here to stay, and is not necessarily a reaction to competitors’ own position, it is simply a consideration of the demand for these types of assets our clients have, therefore We have to find the most correct and more educational way of doing this,” Leo said.
The lender also reported net income for the second quarter, beating earnings estimates. The bank’s net profit rose 2% on a quarter-on-quarter basis to $4.08 billion, or $778.08 million. However, this figure was 2.1% lower than the same period last year.
President Anna Botín said: “Our diversification continues to provide a strong and resilient foundation for growth.”
The Brazilian entity’s entry into crypto could essentially provide that advantage to the lender. Especially when the country is witnessing increasing competition from mainstream banks in this sector.
Brazilian banks explore cryptocurrency trading
Two weeks ago, Ita Unibanco, Brazil’s largest private lender, also announced its intention to offer retail trading services for cryptocurrencies.
The report also noted that the lender believes in digitizing traditional financial assets on the blockchain to make crypto widely available.
Brazilian brokerage XP also expects to expand crypto trading for its clients until mid-August, reports confirmed this week.
Brazilian online bank NuBank also launched NuBank Crypto on its Banking NU app to allow trading of cryptocurrencies.
Santander previously said in a blog post, “This disruptive technology [Blockchain] Its many applications in various fields, from finance to medicine to the environment, have been highly praised and many are praising it. ,
In March, the bank announced a partnership with Agrotokento to provide crypto-secured loans. “This digital solution will allow farmers and agro-ecosystems to easily access a new financing system, expanding credit capacity using tokenized assets,” the statement said.