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# Standard Chartered agrees to buy digital-asset custodian Zodia
- URL: https://www.southeastasiaconnect.com/standard-chartered-zodia-custody-acquisition-singapore-20261022/
- Published: 2026-10-22T11:00:01.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T11:00:01.000Z
- Description: The proposed purchase includes a regulated Singapore unit; current custody clients are being served as usual, the bank says, while closing awaits approvals.
- Author: Southeast Asia Editorial Team
- Tags: News, #google-news, Singapore, Digital Finance

[Standard Chartered](https://www.sc.com/?ref=southeastasiaconnect.com) has agreed to buy Zodia Custody, whose regulated Singapore unit safeguards digital assets for institutions. For a regional institution assessing custody providers, the deal points to a possible change in the custodian’s ownership and a separate future home for the software used to build digital-asset services.

The bank said on 21 October that Standard Chartered I H Limited signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% of Zodia Custody Limited. That company is the parent of regulated operating entities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Luxembourg. Completion remains subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions; the announcement gave neither a purchase price nor an expected closing date.

## Custody and software would separate

After completion, Zodia’s regulated custody business would join Standard Chartered’s existing digital-asset custody activities within Securities Services. The bank says the combination is intended to bring traditional and digital-asset securities services into a more unified offering for institutional clients. That is its stated plan, rather than a service change already in force.

Zodia’s software and professional-services assets would instead move to Zodia Solutions, an independent entity to be established under SC Ventures. The bank says that business would continue supplying infrastructure to financial institutions, including Standard Chartered, as they launch or expand digital-asset services. Its announcement names several bank investors supporting the new entity, including Northern Trust, Emirates NBD, NAB Ventures and SBI Ventures. That proposed investor group is distinct from the announced buyer of the custody parent.

The distinction matters to institutions that need both safekeeping and the technology to run a digital-asset service: the proposed transaction identifies different future businesses for those functions. Existing Zodia Custody clients continue to be served as usual, according to the bank. It does not specify a customer migration, changed client terms or a transfer of a Singapore regulatory licence. Institutions will need later completion and operating-structure disclosures to establish those details.

**Source:** [Standard Chartered announcement, 21 October 2026](https://www.sc.com/en/press-release/t/?ref=southeastasiaconnect.com).