AMINA (Hong Kong) Limited (AMINA HK), the subsidiary of Swiss FINMA-regulated AMINA Bank AG, has secured a significant regulatory milestone with an uplift to its Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) Type 1 licence. The approval makes AMINA the first international banking group to offer comprehensive crypto spot trading and asset safeguarding services exclusively to professional investors in Hong Kong. It strengthens the group’s strategy of operating as a locally regulated crypto services provider with global reach, enabling institutions, corporates and high-net-worth individuals to access institutional-grade digital-asset services within Hong Kong’s regulatory framework. The launch addresses a structural gap in Hong Kong’s institutional crypto landscape. Despite the city’s progress on digital-asset regulation, professional investors and family offices have had limited access to international, institutional-grade crypto services with local onboarding and compliance support. AMINA HK’s licence uplift, underpinned by the group’s bank-grade operational standards, closes this gap and positions the institution as part of the core infrastructure supporting Hong Kong’s next phase of institutional crypto adoption. The market has evolved beyond early experimentation, with sophisticated investors now expecting regulated access that mirrors the safeguards applied to traditional financial products. “Hong Kong has established itself as the region’s most sophisticated market for regulated institutional crypto adoption, and this licence uplift positions AMINA to serve accelerating demand from professional investors seeking trusted access to crypto,” said Michael Benz, head of AMINA Hong Kong and APAC. “What distinguishes AMINA is our ability to combine Swiss banking rigour with Hong Kong digital-asset expertise to deliver crypto solutions through a framework that institutional clients can trust. This milestone enables us to expand our crypto product shelf including private fund management, structured products, derivatives and tokenised real-world assets, all delivered within the regulated standards our professional-investor community expects.” With the Type 1 licence uplift, AMINA HK now provides 24/7 crypto spot trading, asset safeguarding, and crypto deposits and withdrawals to and from whitelisted addresses, operating within SFC requirements. The framework is designed to streamline the client journey while maintaining institutional-grade control, security and operational resilience for professional investors, family offices and corporate clients. AMINA HK’s services are now live for professional investors. Trading capabilities 24/7 professional trading across major digital-asset pairs supported by institutional execution infrastructure Initial listing of 13 vetted cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ether, stablecoins (USDC, USDT) and leading DeFi tokens Access to institutional liquidity pools through SFC-licensed infrastructure Multi-channel access via mobile apps (iOS/Android), web portals and dedicated relationship management Access to regulated crypto custody SFC-compliant custody designed to meet institutional security requirements Support for crypto deposits and withdrawals to whitelisted addresses, enabling movement between AMINA and external non-custodial wallets Multi-layered security architecture including SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 certified infrastructure 24/7 operational support for managing crypto positions across time zones
