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Julius Baer

Institution · Private bank

Julius Baer is a Swiss private bank whose digital-asset offering runs a split-shelf model: direct crypto holdings custodied through a partnership with AMINA Bank AG (a licensed Swiss crypto bank) across both hot and cold storage, indirect exposure through ETPs (exchange-traded products), structured products and alternative strategies, and bespoke case-by-case arrangements including the use of crypto tokens as collateral for financing, as described on the bank's own client-facing Singapore service page as of 22 July 2026. The model matters in this knowledge base as one of the distinct private-bank shelf architectures live in APAC wealth management, alongside the third-party tokenised-fund distribution model (UBS, OCBC's Bank of Singapore) and the own-brand issuance model (DBS), with Standard Chartered extending institutional-grade bank custody to private clients as a fourth pattern. Availability is explicitly not uniform: the products and services offered depend on client domicile and the relevant Julius Baer legal entity.

The split-shelf model

The client-facing service page describes 3 layers.

  • Direct investment. A range of crypto tokens held via a dedicated crypto storage arrangement through the AMINA Bank AG partnership, covering both hot and cold storage. The bank keeps the client relationship; the specialist custodian carries the storage build.
  • Indirect investment. Exposure through exchange-traded products, structured products, and alternative strategies, letting clients take digital-asset exposure inside conventional wrappers without holding tokens directly.
  • Bespoke solutions. Case-by-case arrangements, including using crypto tokens as collateral for financing.

The choice to partner rather than build custody is the defining feature of the model: the bank maximises product breadth (a client can hold the underlying directly or take wrapped exposure through the same relationship) while the regulatory and operational heavy lifting of token custody sits with a licensed specialist. That carries a different counterparty-risk profile from a bank that issues and self-custodies (DBS) or one that distributes another manager’s tokenised fund under that manager’s custody arrangements (UBS, Bank of Singapore); see the APAC private-bank digital-asset shelf playbook for the full comparison.

Why it matters

  • The split shelf gives a private bank crypto capability without balance-sheet issuance, a pattern worth benchmarking for any wealth manager that has not yet picked a model.
  • The crypto-as-collateral line, even case-by-case, places digital assets inside the bank’s lending relationship rather than confining them to the investment shelf, which suggests the bank treats the asset class as bankable collateral rather than a segregated curiosity.
  • The domicile-and-booking-entity caveat is operationally load-bearing: the same client-facing shelf does not exist in every market Julius Baer serves, so the offering has to be read per legal entity, not per brand.

Recent activity

  • 22 Jul 2026The bank’s Singapore-facing digital-asset service page, as archived on that date, describes the split-shelf model: direct crypto via the AMINA Bank AG custody partnership across hot and cold storage, indirect exposure via ETPs, structured products and alternative strategies, and case-by-case crypto-as-collateral financing, with availability varying by client domicile and booking entity.

Open questions

  • Whether tokenised funds or tokenised securities appear on the shelf alongside crypto tokens, or the offering stays crypto-only; the service page describes token exposure and wrappers, not tokenised TradFi products.
  • Which booking entities offer which components, and specifically what the Singapore entity can offer under the MAS perimeter versus the Swiss parent.
  • Whether the crypto-as-collateral line is programmatic (published loan-to-value terms) or genuinely bespoke per client.