Standard Chartered signs to buy all of Zodia Custody, five months after its offer and nearly two months past the original closing target

Standard Chartered has signed the papers to take full ownership of Zodia Custody, the crypto custodian it helped found with Northern Trust in 2020, per crypto.news. The bank said on October 21, 2026, that its subsidiary Standard Chartered I H Limited has signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% of Zodia Custody Limited, according to The Block and crypto.news. Financial terms were not disclosed, and completion depends on regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

The deal splits Zodia in two. Its regulated custody operations, run through entities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Luxembourg, will be absorbed into Standard Chartered's Securities Services division. Its software and professional services business will be carved out as Zodia Solutions under SC Ventures, the bank's venture arm, with Standard Chartered as a customer. Zodia Solutions' investors include Northern Trust, NAB Ventures, SBI Ventures and Emirates NBD, per crypto.news and The Block, and crypto.news named Craig Perrin as its chief executive.

The timeline slipped. The bank said on May 18 that Zodia's shareholders and noteholders had accepted its non-binding offer, and that the custody business would be folded into its Financing and Securities Services unit, per its release. The original plan called for definitive agreements by the end of June and completion by the end of August, The Block and crypto.news reported; neither the delay nor the outstanding approvals were explained.

Zodia also changed leaders in the interim: chief executive Julian Sawyer stepped down in September and Richard Clark, its former chief revenue officer, took over, per The Block. Ying Ying Tan, the bank's global head of securities services and digital assets, said the purchase would strengthen its custody portfolio, per crypto.news.

Standard Chartered said earlier in October that it plans to offer crypto custody in Singapore by the end of 2026, per The Block and crypto.news. Next comes the regulators' sign-off; no new completion date was given.