"Good, good, many banks are moving forward in joining crypto."
Austria's 97-year-old Raiffeisen Bank International plans to offer cryptocurrency trading services to its retail clients across the European Union and Eastern Europe by the end of January 2024.
Following its headquarters in Vienna, the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank which signed an agreement with crypto exchange Bitpanda will have its initial launch in the country.
According to Curt Chadha, Raiffeisen Bank's Head of Innovation, customers can use their mobile devices to access Bitpanda through the Raiffeisen app, where trade confirmation will work just like an account-to-account bank transfer with the same security features.
In addition to having $215 billion in assets, the bank, which will serve 17.8 million customers in the European Union and the Middle East, has seen its move as an opportunity for a tech demographic looking for safe investment options.
Not only that, it will also allow customers to make smaller investments in crypto instead of the larger investments typically associated with wealthier individuals.
Founded in 2014 in Vienna, Bitpanda has been operating under the supervision of Austria's FMA and Germany's BaFin where it allows regulated trading in various assets such as stocks, ETFs, precious metals including crypto.
Therefore, the partnership with Bitpanda at the beginning of this year is important as Raiffeisen Bank can offer a diversified network of trading, investment and custody services.
