Standard Chartered Shakes Up Crypto World by Folding Zodia Custody Into Core Banking Division

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Standard Chartered to Fold Zodia Custody Into CIB Crypto Division

Standard Chartered plans to integrate the main crypto custody services of Zodia Custody, a company it largely owns, directly into its larger Corporate and Investment Banking business, people with knowledge of the plan say.

Key Takeaways:

  • Standard Chartered plans to fold Zodia Custody’s core operations into its CIB division as early as April 2026, Bloomberg reported.
  • Zodia Custody will retain its independent SaaS model, serving third-party banks in 7 global locations across 75+ assets.
  • No official comment from Standard Chartered has been issued, leaving minority shareholder status with SBI Holdings and NAB unclear.

Report Says Standard Chartered Crypto Custody Overhaul Could Come in April 2026

The discussions are private and ongoing, according to Bloomberg’s report, with an announcement potentially arriving as early as April 2026. The plan calls for merging 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.

Zodia Custody is not expected to disappear. The company would continue operating as a standalone software-as-a-service platform, offering 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.

The rationale is operational efficiency. 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 creates redundancy. The integration would eliminate that overlap.

Zodia Custody holds regulatory licenses in the UK under the Financial Conduct Authority, Luxembourg under MiCA, 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.

Zodia Custody has several minority owners, including Japanese firm SBI Holdings, Australia’s National Australia Bank, and Emirates NBD. It’s currently unknown if these shareholders were officially asked for their input. As of April 8, 2026, neither Standard Chartered nor Zodia Custody had released a public statement about the matter.

Standard Chartered’s broader crypto push 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.

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, UAE’s VARA regime, and Hong Kong’s stablecoin licensing rules have each contributed to that shift.

Standard Chartered’s corporate and institutional clients could benefit from a combined custody service. This would allow them to manage both traditional investments and digital assets in one place, all under regulatory oversight, simplifying processes for settling transactions and ensuring compliance.

As an analyst, I can confirm that Zodia Custody will continue to operate using a Software-as-a-Service model. This means banks and fintech companies looking for a white-label custody solution will still be able to utilize their platform and offer it under their own branding.

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2026-04-08 19:29