Standard Chartered said on 14 October 2026 that eligible affluent clients in the United Arab Emirates can now buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) directly through their existing Standard Chartered bank accounts. The bank calls it “a global first for Standard Chartered and the first offering of its kind by an international bank in the UAE.”
How it works
In its press release, the bank says clients will not need “separate wallets or third-party platforms.” A crypto wallet is the software or device normally used to hold digital coins. Instead, trades stay inside the bank, which handles “end-to-end custody and settlement through a closed-loop model”. In plain terms, the bank holds the coins for the client and settles the trades itself.
The service was built by the bank’s Wealth and Retail Banking and Corporate and Investment Banking arms, together with Zodia Markets, a crypto trading firm backed by the bank’s venture unit, SC Ventures.
Who can use it
The bank says it has “received licencing approval from VARA in the UAE”. VARA is the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, Dubai’s crypto regulator. The service will first be offered to “Professional Investor clients in the UAE, with plans to expand to other markets over time.”
Gulf business news site AGBI reported more detail. According to AGBI, the bank’s onshore UAE company received a full broker-dealer licence from VARA, and clients trade through the bank’s mobile app. AGBI said access is limited at first to existing clients who qualify as professional investors and pass eligibility and suitability checks, and that trading is execution-only, meaning clients make their own decisions without advice on each trade.
Ayesha Abbas, the bank’s head of affluent and wealth solutions for EMEA and the UAE, told AGBI that professional investors need investment “knowledge and experience” and a qualifying level of liquid net worth, but she did not give a figure. Asked about opening the service to ordinary retail customers, she said that would depend on regulation, client demand and market maturity, AGBI reported.
AGBI also reported that, according to VARA’s public register, the bank’s approval brings the number of fully licensed crypto providers in Dubai to 58.
Costs and limits
The bank’s release does not mention fees. Crypto news site The Defiant reported that the closed-loop service “bars external crypto transfers and charges a spread of up to 2%”. A spread is the gap between the buying and selling price, and it is how the bank earns money on each trade. That figure comes from The Defiant only; Standard Chartered has not published it. If the report is right, clients cannot move their coins out to a wallet of their own.
What the bank said
“This launch represents a significant milestone for Standard Chartered as we bring digital assets into our core wealth offering,” said Samir Subberwal, the bank’s global head of wealth solutions, retail products, data and analytics.
“We are proud to be the first international bank in the UAE to launch a cryptocurrency trading offering,” said Rola Abu Manneh, chief executive for the UAE, Middle East and Pakistan. She said the UAE is “one of our four global wealth hubs.”
The bank already offers clients crypto exposure in other ways, including crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on its share-trading platform, and structured products and over-the-counter derivatives.
Following the bank’s institutional launch
This builds on a separate launch for professional institutions. On 3 September 2026, Standard Chartered said it had extended its institutional Bitcoin and Ether spot trading to the UAE through Standard Chartered DIFC, its arm in the Dubai International Financial Centre, which is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority. The bank said that made it the first global systemically important bank to offer the service in the market. It first launched institutional spot trading through its UK branch in July 2025.
The new service is the first time the bank has offered this kind of trading to individual wealth clients rather than institutions.
What this means
- A major global bank is selling crypto to wealthy individuals, not only to institutions, using a regulated Dubai licence.
- Access is narrow for now. Only existing professional-investor clients in the UAE can use it.
- It is a closed system. The bank holds the coins, and The Defiant reports that clients cannot transfer them out and pay a spread of up to 2%.
Sources
- Standard Chartered, “Standard Chartered unveils first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency trading solution for affluent clients”, 14 October 2026. https://www.sc.com/en/press-release/standard-chartered-unveils-first-of-its-kind-cryptocurrency-trading-solution-for-affluent-clients/
- AGBI, “Standard Chartered licensed to launch crypto trading in UAE”, 14 October 2026. https://www.agbi.com/banking-finance/2026/10/standard-chartered-licensed-to-launch-crypto-trading-in-uae/
- The Defiant, “Standard Chartered Launches Bitcoin and Ether Trading for Affluent UAE Clients”, 14 October 2026. https://thedefiant.io/converge/tradfi-and-fintech/standard-chartered-launches-bitcoin-and-ether-trading-for-affluent-uae-clients
- Standard Chartered, “Standard Chartered becomes first Global Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB) to launch Institutional Bitcoin and Ether spot trading in the UAE”, 3 September 2026. https://www.sc.com/en/press-release/standard-chartered-becomes-first-global-systemically-important-bank-g-sib-to-launch-institutional-bitcoin-and-ether-spot-trading-in-the-uae/
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