PANews reported on November 15 that according to Bloomberg, Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo SpA is expanding the scope of its digital asset department to handle spot transactions of cryptocurrencies, the latest move by traditional banks to penetrate new markets.

Italy's largest bank set up a proprietary cryptocurrency trading unit within its corporate and investment banking division in 2023, according to people familiar with the matter. Since then, the unit has only traded cryptocurrency options, futures and exchange-traded funds. Although spot trading has not yet started, the trading desk obtained the necessary internal approvals and technical systems about a month ago.

Cassie Craddock, managing director of Ripple UK and Europe, confirmed that Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo has partnered with Ripple Custody (formerly Metaco) to build custody capabilities for any type of tokenized assets.