Raiffeisenbank Schwaben Mitte has switched on crypto trading in its banking app. If you hold an account there, you have been able for a few days to buy and sell four crypto assets directly through your bank, without opening a separate account at a crypto exchange. According to a report in the Augsburger Allgemeine on November 1, the bank from Krumbach is the seventh Bavarian cooperative bank to receive approval from BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator, for crypto business.

In practice, Raiffeisenbank crypto means four things: a settlement account is required, a securities account is not, custody is handled by an external provider, and statutory deposit protection does not cover these assets. These are exactly the points missing from…