By A new Puerto Rico-based institution which caters to the needs of crypto traders – San Juan Mercantile Bank & Trust International (SJMBT) recently opened its doors for business.
The news was announced on Monday when SJMBT conducted its first client deposit. The institution was first licensed last month as an international financial entity (IFE) by the Puerto Rican Office of the Commission of Financial Institutions (OCIF). In addition to this, the bank is a unit of Mercantile Global Holdings (MGH), which also owns San Juan Mercantile Exchange (SJMX), an upcoming “institutional-grade electronic trading platform for digital assets.”
The new bank will provide both custody and settlement services for fiat and crypto traded on the exchange. While SJMBT is not insured by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), a spokesperson told publications that it would be placing clients deposits at participating banks which are insured.
In a similar fashion, customers digital assets will be held at “approved digital asset custodians,” according to SJMBT. However, the spokesperson did name any of the bank’s correspondents or custodians, nor its initial clients.
MGH stated that by keeping custody and trading under the same roof would have its own benefits. For example, the exchange will consider customer balances on deposit at the bank when setting trading limits, authorising the bank to settle trades in real time.
Nick Varelakis, President and Chief Operating Officer at SJMBT added:
“As more liquidity venues onboard with SJMX to trade digital assets, SJMBT will provide critical services, such as real-time settlement and account re-balancing, in support of our customers’ trading activities.”
Veterans In The Finance Industry:
MGH’s leadership is comprised of a number of world-renowned, leading financial veterans.
Varelakis, for example, is a former executive director of JPMorgan Chase for business architecture and transformation, as well as the former chief operating officer of Puerto Rico’s Noble Bank. Noble Bank itself is best known in the crypto community for its past relationship with the stablecoin company Tether.
Furthermore, the MGH bank and exchange was founded a year ago by J. Robert Collins Jr., the former president of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX, a part of CME Group). J. Robert Collins Jr. is also a founder of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange.
The company has claimed that trading will begin immediately.
“With the new customers onboarded at [the bank], [the exchange] is able to launch exchange operations, via the SJMX Dark Pool platform and through SJMX Blocks, its over-the-counter (OTC) trading venue,” as per a press release from MGH.
Banking continues to be tough to come by for crypto market members, with only a handful of companies prepared to assist the sector due to money laundering anxieties and other recognised risks.
Comments