Cité Gestion, a Swiss private bank founded in 2009, set the new benchmark for the banking industry. The company partnered with Taurus, a Geneva-based blockchain startup, to issue its shares as blockchain tokens. Taurus will guide the bank through the process and manage the smart contract that creates the securities.
The process is carried out in compliance with the guidelines of the Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA), also a Geneva-based institution. According to the press release, the application of the CMTA standards serves to ensure adequate risk management. The tokenization of the shares is enabled by the CMAT token – an open-source framework developed by the CMTA for tokenizing securities in compliance with Swiss law.
"It was important for our bank to be among the first to take advantage of the new possibilities offered by Swiss law for the digitalization of securities by tokenizing our own shares," commented Christophe Utelli, Deputy CEO of Cité Gestion. According to the statement, the bank also wants to make it easier for investors to trade shares as well as monitor their ownership and increase transparency for shareholders.
Taurus, founded in 2018, has already helped tokenize 15 companies. The startup has a securities license granted by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, which allows it to provide tokenizing services to banks and investors. In April 2021, the company launched Taurus' Digital eXchange "TDX" – the world's first regulated marketplace for digital assets.
