Today Austria’s Raiffeisenlandesbank NÖ-Wien (RLB NÖ-Wien) announced plans for a retail investment offering that will include cryptocurrencies, stocks, ETFs, precious metals and commodities. It’s one of the first traditional European banks to offer such as service following the final vote on Europe’s MiCA crypto regulation last week.
The bank has signed a letter of intent to work with cryptocurrency exchange Bitpanda, or rather its software arm Bitpanda Technology Services, to explore a partnership for the offering. The evaluation process will be completed by the end of the year.
RLB NÖ-Wien wants to offer the ability to invest from as little as one euro. It cites a study showing almost a third of 20 to 39-year-olds use platforms like Bitpanda’s exchange to make investments. The solution Bitpanda aims to offer will involve API connectivity for the bank with a white-labelled app.
“The goal of Bitpanda is to add an innovative, secure facet to our product range and to enable all customers to easily accumulate wealth,” said Michael Höllerer, Director Director of Raiffeisenlandesbank NÖ-Wien.
Bitpanda has been working with the group for years. Back in 2020, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) partnered with Bitpanda to explore blockchain interoperability after Bitpanda was involved in the Pantos interoperability project. This was part of the RBI Coin experiments.
