Standard Chartered is reviewing a plan to bring parts of Zodia Custody, a crypto custodian in which it holds a majority stake, into its investment banking unit.

Cointelegraph reported on April 8 that Standard Chartered is looking at a restructuring that would integrate Zodia’s crypto custody business into a unit within its corporate and investment bank that provides related services.

A central point of the review is to reorganise by splitting functions rather than fully absorbing Zodia. Under one option, Zodia’s custody business would move into the bank’s internal organisation, while Zodia would continue to operate independently as a software-as-a-service platform for digital asset custody. A restructuring announcement could come this month, the report said.

It has not been confirmed whether talks have begun with minority investors. Zodia’s minority shareholders include Northern Trust, Emirates NBD, National Australia Bank and SBI Holdings.

The review comes as big banks move to bring digital asset infrastructure into core banking operations. Standard Chartered is considering shifting Zodia’s crypto custody business into its corporate and investment bank, which already provides similar services. Keeping Zodia as a separate software services platform is also being discussed.

Standard Chartered has also expanded its digital asset business in recent years. The bank has been reviewing the launch of a crypto prime brokerage platform through its venture unit, SC Ventures, and started a crypto trading service for institutional investors in the summer of 2025. This is seen as a move to place some businesses that were grown mainly through external entities back inside a regulated banking organisation.

Zodia was established in 2020 by Standard Chartered together with Northern Trust. It later raised external funding and expanded to seven offices across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Standard Chartered is considered one of the banks that entered the digital asset market relatively early.

Other global banks are also moving to bring digital asset custody functions into regulated banking entities. Morgan Stanley applied in February in the United States for a new national trust bank charter. If approved, it would be able to offer custody of certain digital assets as well as buying, selling, swapping, transferring and staking services within the banking regulatory framework. BNY Mellon launched a digital asset custody platform in the United States in October 2022 and enabled some customers to store and transfer bitcoin and ether on one platform alongside traditional assets.