Hauck & Aufhäuser (H&A), a Chinese-owned 224-year-old German lending firm, is about to propose a new product to high-net-worth individuals and professional investors looking to invest in cryptoassets.
The bank said it is teaming up with the Berlin-based fintech Kapilendo to open a new crypto fund this coming January. The HAIC Digital Asset Fund I will be aimed at institutional investors, financing in various cryptoassets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Stellar (XLM).
The minimum investment in the fund is set at EUR 200,000 (USD 243,000).
Dr. Holger Sepp, Member of the Board at H&A, was cited in a comment as stating that the bank has acknowledged that digital assets are increasingly prevalent with institutional investors. As reported by the bank, this is a larger step to expanding its variety of services in the Asset Servicing division to include
“the innovative and future-oriented component of digital assets.”
Its subsidiary Hauck & Aufhäuser Innovative Capital GmbH will oversee the fund’s portfolio of digital assets.
H&A could profit from Germany’s implementation of the 4th European Union anti-money laundering directive, enabling banks to serve as crypto custodians. Notwithstanding the German regulation modifications that allow the bank to store crypto independently, H&A has decided to team up with Kapilendo, which will act as the fund’s depositary.
The Frankfurt-based bank is a legacy financial company whose history dates back to 1796. Fosun, the Hong Kong-listed giant with USD 102.6bn in assets (as of December 2019) and businesses in the health, finance, and leisure industries, acquired H&A in 2016.
In 2017, the conglomerate invested in Chinese blockchain startup Onchain and was also a co-owner of Singapore-based digital asset custodian Onchain Custodian. Da Hongfei co-founded both companies. Founder of NEO, a blockchain developer, ranked 23rd by market capitalization.
Earlier this year, H&A agreed to procure another German lender, Bankhaus Lampe. Together the two companies employ around 1,400 staff and manage EUR 35bn, according to data from Reuters.
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