Swiss private bank Maerki Baumann is offering trading and custody of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets to its clients.

The Zurich-based private bank recently secured a licence from the Swiss Financial Market Advisory Authority (FINMA) to deliver the services.

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The move is aimed at establishing a bridge between traditional private banking and the crypto space.

Initially, the bank will support trading in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple.

It will also enable trading in other digital assets based on the ERC-20 token standard.

Plans are on to expand the portfolio of tradable cryptocurrencies and tokens eventually.

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The trading orders placed with the bank will be moved through established partner companies, most notably the transaction bank InCore Bank, to professional crypto brokers and liquid crypto exchanges, noted Maerki Baumann.

“This will ensure that transactions can be rapidly executed and with a narrow trading spread (difference between the bid and offer price),” the private bank said.

The move represents the bank’s next phase of its multi-phase crypto strategy, which started last year.

The private bank started this initiative by offering business accounts for blockchain firms as well as facilitating the supervision of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and security token offerings (STOs).

The firm recently also built a five-person Crypto Desk. Marcel Spalinger is in charge of the desk.

Maerki Baumann plans to expand its existing private banking proposition in H2 2020.

The firm further said that its multi-layered security architecture combats cyber-attacks.

Maerki Baumann CEO Stephan Zwahlen said: “With the trading and custody of digital assets, not only are we tapping into a new business area, we are also creating additional investment possibilities for our core business.”