Absa Bank has announced a major strategic partnership with blockchain specialist Ripple to introduce institutional-grade custody solutions for tokenised assets, including cryptocurrencies, in South Africa. This move is significant, marking a turning point for how major traditional African banks engage with the burgeoning digital asset economy.
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By integrating Ripple’s institutional custody platform, Absa can deliver secure, compliant, and robust storage for its clients without needing to build complex technical infrastructure from scratch. Robyn Lawson, Absa Corporate & Investment Banking’s Head of Digital Product (Custody), confirmed that this allows the bank to leverage proven and trusted technology to meet the highest security and operational standards.
This collaboration is Ripple’s first major custody partnership in Africa, underscoring its commitment to the continent’s shift toward digital value exchange. Reece Merrick, Ripple’s Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa, emphasized that the deal responds directly to the accelerating demand for compliant digital asset infrastructure across emerging markets.
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The partnership reinforces Ripple’s growing African footprint, which already includes working with payments provider Chipper Cash and the introduction of its US dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, to the region. This systematic expansion shows Ripple’s aim to become a foundational rails provider for the future of tokenised finance in Africa.
This move signals that digital asset custody is evolving from a niche experiment into a crucial piece of financial plumbing. If more major banks follow Absa’s lead, tokenised assets could rapidly transition from a relatively small segment to a mainstream, widely adopted asset class in the African financial sector.
