European Digital Assets Specialist Bank Ends Bid To Buy German Lender

Tom Burroughes

15 June 2023

European digital assets specialist BCB Group yesterday said its move to buy Hamburg-based Sutor Bank has been cancelled.

The initial deal, announced in December 2021, has been reversed due to “recent banking market events and macroeconomic changes,” BCB Group said in a statement.

“Whilst we still believe in the team at Sutor and their innovative platforms, ultimately we recognise that in today’s market, unrecognisable compared to the 2021 market, we can each serve our clients on our own foundations more effectively than via the deal originally agreed. In the near term, BCB provides a more resilient service as a network of independent banks,” BCB Group’s founder and CEO, Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, said.

The reference to the economic and banking market did not specifically mention the sharp falls in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, rising interest rates and the demise of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank - both institutions with strong links to tech. However, during the past two years sectors such as bitcoin and entities such as "stablecoins" have been hit by selloffs to technology stocks as well as regulatory uncertainties and the demise of US crypto exchange FTX, among other measures.

Sutor Bank, founded in 1921 – as the December 2021 statement from BCB had said – “is an independent diversified bank founded in 1921, and one of the very few banks in Germany deeply integrating with fintechs in the digital asset space.” It offers portfolios of products such as savings plans, public subsidised retirement plans or gold savings plans.

BCB’s statement referred to steps it is taking to spread and control risks.

“There is…renewed focus from depositors on the safety of funds in financial institutions, as well as attention from regulators on the financial health of banks and the broader banking industry in various jurisdictions, including Germany,” it said. “This has all seen a shift in the near term balance between fintechs and ‘fully licensed’ banks. By safeguarding customer funds with carefully chosen banking partners, BCB Group can better protect its customers with its UK API and imminent European licences, which are currently in the pipeline.”

BCB Group, with offices in London, Switzerland and South Africa, was founded in the UK in 2017 by Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie and Oliver Tonkin , fellow MBA post graduates of City of London’s Cass Business School. It was built to service the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. Senior figures have worked for Barclays, Paysafe, Bitstamp, Coinbase, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, FIS, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Investec, Lloyds Commercial Bank, Luno, Norton Rose Fulbright, FIS and Sun Life of Canada.