CACEIS Bank Obtains Digital Assets Service Provider Status in France

French banking entity CACEIS Bank has obtained Digital Assets Service Provider (PSAN) status.

With this registration granted by France’s Financial Markets Authority (AMF), the bank can offer digital asset custody services to third parties, CACEIS Bank said in a Thursday (June 22) press release.

“In practical terms, we will provide secure storage for our clients’ private digital keys leveraging state-of-the-art technology,” CACEIS Chief Digital Officer Arnaud Misset said in the release.

CACEIS is an asset servicing banking group of Crédit Agricole and Santander and has offices across Europe, North and South America, and Asia.

The bank’s status as a Digital Assets Service Provider will enable it to meet the growing demand for such services from investment management companies and institutional investors, according to the release.

It also signifies that the bank’s custody of digital assets provides the same level of security as that of traditional assets, the release said.

“At CACEIS, we are convinced that innovation and regulation go hand in hand,” CACEIS Senior Advisor for Public Affairs Eliane Méziani said in the release. “Our PSAN status is the result of several months of work and the acknowledgment of CACEIS’ role as a trusted third party.”

In other cryptocurrency news from France, it was reported Friday (June 16) that crypto exchange Binance is the target of a money laundering probe in the country.

The crypto giant is being investigated by the Paris prosecutor’s office for “aggravated” money laundering and illegally operating as a digital asset provider.

“We had an on-site visit last week by the relevant authorities,” Binance said in a Friday tweet. “Binance, as always, was fully collaborative, and we met our obligations accordingly. We continue to work closely with regulators and law enforcement agencies on all ongoing compliance requirements to uphold high standards.”

In March, digital technology firm Circle filed applications in France to become a licensed electronic money institution and a registered digital asset service provider.

Registering with the AMF allows Circle to offer products and services to customers in France and enables it to deploy its reserve-backed stablecoin EUROC, the company said at the time.