Singapore United Overseas Bank seeks VP for ‘crypto security’: report

One of Singapore’s largest banks is looking into offering digital currency solutions, a new report claims. United Overseas Bank (UOB) is hiring a vice president – crypto security administrator.

UOB is the third-largest bank in the Southeast Asian country, with $235 billion worth of assets. With over 500 offices in 19 countries, the bank has a presence in Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North American regions.

The bank is looking to venture into the digital currencies industry, a new report by The Block indicates. According to the job posting, the bank is seeking applicants who are skilled in cryptography for developing banking security solutions. UOB is reportedly seeking to design a secure solution for managing cryptographic keys.

The job requirements include “clear understanding with experience in industry encryption standards, data transmission techniques, cryptographic key generation and management, complete asymmetric and symmetric cryptography, Hardware Security Module (HSM) devices, PIN networks, and payment networks standards, including tokenization and EMV Operating Rules and Regulations.”

A HSM is a physical device that safeguards and manages digital keys and performs encryption and decryption for digital signatures, among other functionalities.

Hagen Rooke, a fintech expert at Singaporean law firm Reed Smith confirmed that UOB is looking at offering digital currency solutions. Speaking to The Block, Rooke claimed that almost all major banks in Singapore are looking into digital currencies.

“It [the advertised position] seems to be related to the use of cryptography for the purposes of developing security solutions in a banking context. This also involves developing ‘tokens,’ i.e., encoded representations of confidential information,” he stated.

If UOB ventures into digital currencies, it will be following Singapore’s largest bank, the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), into the industry. As CoinGeek reported, DBS announced that it would be launching a digital currency exchange.

However, shortly after publishing the announcement, the bank retracted it. As a DBS representative later clarified to CoinGeek, the retraction was because the bank has yet to acquire all the required regulatory approvals.

Asian banks have been warming up to digital currencies in recent years. In August, some of South Korea’s largest banks announced that they were looking to offer digital currency services. Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin, NH Nonghyup Bank and Woori Bank—four of the five largest banks in Korea—have all either expressed interest in or applied for digital currency licenses and patents.

See also: CoinGeek Live panel on The Future of Exchanges & Trading in a Tokenized World