Standard Chartered is preparing to consolidate parts of Zodia Custody Ltd., its majority-owned crypto custody affiliate, into a digital-asset operation housed within the bank's corporate and investment bank (CIB), according to a report Wednesday. The move would fold Zodia's custody business into the CIB unit that offers comparable services, while preserving Zodia's role as an independent software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider for cryptoasset custody.
Under the plan as described, Zodia Custody would remain a standalone SaaS company focused on custody technology and related software offerings. At the same time, the custody operations themselves - the functions that directly serve corporate and institutional clients through custody services - are to be integrated into the CIB's digital-asset division that already delivers similar client-facing solutions.
The bank established Zodia Custody in late 2020 in a joint initiative originally launched with Northern Trust. Since its founding, Zodia has accepted external capital on several occasions. Zodia's list of minority investors includes Northern Trust Corp., Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, National Australia Bank Ltd., and SBI Holdings Inc.
It is not clear from the available reporting whether Standard Chartered has engaged in discussions with those minority stakeholders about the proposed restructuring. The status of any such talks remains unspecified. Observers should also note that the precise scope of the integration - which parts of Zodia's operations would be moved into the CIB and which would continue under the SaaS umbrella - has not been detailed publicly.
Reports indicate that an announcement outlining the planned restructuring could be made this month, though the timing and definitive terms have not been confirmed. For now, the bank appears to be positioning its custody technology and client-facing custody services in distinct operational tracks: a standalone SaaS business for custody platform software, and a CIB-hosted unit for custody services aimed at institutional customers.
The proposed arrangement would represent an internal reorganization of how custody services and custody technology are delivered across Standard Chartered's businesses, separating product-level software provision from service-level client delivery within the bank.