Hypothekarbank Lenzburg
Hypothekarbank Lenzburg is a listed Swiss universal bank in the canton of Aargau, founded in 1868 and known locally as the Hypi. It runs its own core banking system Finstar, and its crypto banking unit opens company accounts for Swiss crypto firms and keeps security tokens for issuers and investors in a regulated custody setup.
Since October 2023 the bank holds tokenized shares issued on the Ethereum blockchain, starting with the share tokens of RealUnit Schweiz, and investors manage them in e-banking next to ordinary securities. Other banks and licensed financial firms can rent the token issuance and custody modules of the Finstar Digital Asset Platform as a service.
Hypothekarbank Lenzburg crypto: banking for crypto firms
Swiss companies from the crypto industry get a company account with a credit card and e-banking at Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, and the bank also offers them occupational pension plans and investment solutions. Its crypto banking unit sits next to the regional business with private clients, mortgages and small companies in the Aargau.
For each type of crypto firm the bank lists the documents it needs before it opens an account. Every application therefore names its business model and comes with the papers the bank requires for that model.
Account for crypto companies: four business models
A trading company may trade cryptocurrencies on several platforms with the own money of its owners only, and it must show where the original fiat money came from, which central and decentralized platforms it uses, and screenshots of each account. A mining company lists the number and type of its machines, for example the Antminer S19, with purchase invoices, rental contracts for the site and the wallet addresses for its rewards.
A crypto service firm that accepts crypto as payment must settle through a licensed exchange regulated under Swiss or equivalent law and convert its income to Swiss francs. An investment vehicle that funds crypto and blockchain start-ups discloses its KYC and anti-money-laundering process, its investor list and its investment strategy.
Token custody on the Finstar platform
On 26 October 2023 the bank started to hold digital register value rights of selected partner firms that were issued on the Ethereum blockchain. The first case was RealUnit Schweiz, whose share tokens are issued through the Swiss platform of Aktionariat. Investors who choose the bank open a custody account with a wallet behind it, and the bank keeps the private keys, so investors no longer carry the risk of losing them.
The tokens appear in e-banking like ordinary shares, and the bank produces the annual tax statement for them on request. Issuers whose token is not yet on the list can ask the bank to add it, and the service is open to other issuers of tokenized stocks.
Upcoming crypto and digital asset events in Switzerland
Token custody fees for issuers and investors
For token custody an issuer pays 0.25 percent a year of the held volume, at least CHF 300 in a collective wallet or CHF 600 in a segregated wallet, plus CHF 120 a year for recording the unit price. Investors pay the same 0.25 percent, with a minimum of CHF 20 a year in a collective wallet when the issuer takes part and CHF 300 when it does not. Moving tokens in costs nothing, moving them out costs CHF 150, and a tax statement costs CHF 150.
Crypto services for other banks
Third-party banks and licensed financial firms can use the Finstar Digital Asset Platform to issue digital register value rights or to hold digital assets for their own clients. They combine the modules they need and get them as a service from the data centers of Hypothekarbank Lenzburg. A bank that offers crypto custody this way needs no custody infrastructure of its own.
Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG: address and branches
Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG has its head office at Bahnhofstrasse 2, 5600 Lenzburg, and it runs 14 branches in the Aargau, among them Lenzburg-West, Mellingen, Muri, Seon and Wohlen. Founded in 1868 as a small credit house, it has grown into a listed digital universal bank. For its 150th anniversary in 2018 the bank published an illustrated history of the company.
Hypothekarbank Lenzburg and Finance Loop
Banks, asset managers and fintechs in the Finance Loop network deal with the services that Hypothekarbank Lenzburg provides, such as accounts for crypto firms and custody of tokenized shares. Finance Loop discusses these services in the Investment & Digital Assets track and the rules behind them in the Risk & Compliance track.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.