Standard Chartered has switched on institutional spot trading in Bitcoin and Ether inside the United Arab Emirates, using its Dubai International Financial Centre entity. The bank says it is the first global systemically important bank to offer the service in the region, building on custody and stablecoin infrastructure it already runs there.
Standard Chartered has launched spot Bitcoin and Ether trading for institutional clients in the United Arab Emirates, operating through its entity regulated by the Dubai International Financial Centre. The bank says the move makes it the first global bank to offer institutional digital asset trading in the region, and the first Global Systemically Important Bank with a similar offering there.
Deliverable trades routed through existing bank rails
Eligible institutional clients can buy and sell Bitcoin and Ether for immediate delivery rather than through cash-settled contracts. The service runs through Standard Chartered's electronic trading channels and can be accessed via its existing foreign exchange interfaces, so clients trade crypto without opening a separate venue.
Clients can settle trades through a custodian of their choice, including Standard Chartered's own platform. The bank launched that UAE custody service in September 2024. It previously rolled out the same deliverable spot-trading service for institutional clients through its UK branch in July 2025.
Executives frame it as part of a broader build-out
Rola Abu Manneh, CEO for UAE, Middle East and Pakistan at Standard Chartered, said extending Bitcoin and Ether spot trading to institutional clients is a significant step in broadening the bank's regulated digital asset proposition. She added that combining execution with custody and global bank connectivity gives clients a more integrated path into digital asset markets.
Christopher Parsons, Senior Executive Officer at Standard Chartered DIFC, said the DIFC offers a regulated platform for deploying global capabilities, and that the UAE launch pairs the bank's global markets expertise with a regulated regional base.
Part of a wider push into UAE crypto
The launch follows a string of moves by the bank in the region. In June, Standard Chartered entered a banking agreement with CoinMENA, supporting fiat on- and off-ramps, client money accounts and virtual account-based transaction management for the exchange.
Other firms are pursuing similar regulatory ground in the UAE. In August, trading platform Capital.com secured a virtual-asset license from the country's Capital Market Authority. In July, neobank Revolut received in-principle approval from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority to offer crypto-related services.
Sources: Cointelegraph.com News, Crypto Briefing, CoinGape
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