CRYPTO AM SPOTLIGHT: Bison Bank and its crypto assets subsidiary – Bison Digital Assets
Based in beautiful Lisbon and with more than 20 years track record, Bison Bank is an European bank focused on providing a wide and specialised range of Wealth Management, Depositary & Custody and Investment Banking services to High Net Worth Individuals and Institutional Clients.
Linking the European market with other global markets, the bank leverages on a comprehensive network of international driven partners to endeavour its global reach rational, whereby its services are undertaken based on a cross-border strategic approach.
Fully owned by the Hong Kong-based Bison Capital Holding Company Limited trough Bison Capital Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited, Bison Bank’s shareholder’s investment strategy consists of bringing together the resources from the different key geographies where it conducts business – European and Asian continents, as well as Africa, with the view to generate sustained growth and secure key alliances.
In 2022, with this strategy in mind, Bison Bank launched Bison Digital Assets (BDA), the first virtual assets service provider in Portugal, held by a bank, for individuals and institutions that delivers a reliable and secure platform for this new asset class.
As a crypto gateway to the real world, developed to high banking governance operation standards, Bison Digital Assets engages to help building, managing, and sustaining wealth across cultures and geographies. Its goal is to become the Perfect Bridge between cash equivalents and digital assets, making it easier for customers to navigate the world of digital assets and to take advantage of the inherent benefits of blockchain.
BDA enables the deposit, trade, withdraw or custody digital assets with rapid access to fast settlement for EUR, USD, GBP and RMB, providing reliable means for crypto exposure and operation in a seamless and controlled way to any Institutions or high net worth individuals with open account at the bank.
Moreover, it gives financial and virtual assets custody and exchange services that benefit from the highest levels of security within a fully regulated and secured environment, pursuing ultimately for parity between the financial and virtual worlds.
Offering access to several liquidity providers for best price execution, Bison Digital Assets’ prices are transparent without hidden fees, following the banking practices: all assets will be held 1:1 and all operations shall be dully registered.
The provided Custody Services have a multi-layered architecture and leverage decades of experience from Bison Digital Assets’ shareholder in the field of Custody, punctuated by the most battle tested practices that are present in banking. The services to undertake enables clients to tap into deep on-demand liquidity on other licensed platforms while safe under custody.
Considering that the Digital Assets market is not easy to navigate, Bison Digital Assets helps along this journey by bridging the fiat and digital world, while keeping total segregation between accounts and assets’ ownership. This way, people have full control of their Digital Assets, retaining independence and free will over their own decisions.
Bison Digital Assets team…
António Henriques – Bison Bank’s CEO and Bison Digital Assets’ Board Member
Master in business administration (MBA) with a specialisation in Information Management from Universidade Aberta and a Bachelor degree in Organization and Business Management
from Universidade Moderna of Lisbon.
Mr Henriques has more than 25 years of experience in the investment banking and asset management sectors. Extensive management experience in the areas of business development, internal control, operations, organization, information technology, procurement, quality, and sustainability. Also, Mr Henriques has coordinated several performance, productivity, and organisational transformation programs during his career.
Former positions held include Executive Director and Deputy CEO of Bison Bank (2018-2021), Board Member and Chairman of the Board of Banif – Banco de Investimento (2016-2018) and, upon deliberation of the Bank of Portugal, Board Member of Banif – Banco Internacional do Funchal (2015-2018) and Oitante (2017-2018).
André Rendeiro – Board Member
MSc in Finance from Birkbeck College, London, and Bachelor of Business Administration and Management from ISCTE, Lisbon.
Mr Rendeiro has more than 20 years of experience in the investment banking industry, with all-around coverage in both business and controlling activities at Banco Mello (1997-2000), Millennium BCP Investimentos (2000-2001) and Banco Finantia (2001-2018).
Positions held include Co-Head of Structured Finance, Co-Head of Corporate Banking, Head of Credit and Head of Risk Management.
Joined Bison Bank management team in 2018, being responsible for risk, compliance, and legal areas.
Eduardo Moradas – Board Member
Master in business administration (MBA) from INSEAD (The European Institute of Business Administration), France, and Bachelor of Business Administration and Management from
Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, Portugal.
Mr Moradas has over 27 years of experience in the financial, banking, and insurance industries. His expertise encompasses relevant positions in global management of subsidiaries and bank branches in several countries, including managing the relationship with regulators and local authorities in several
countries, such as Portugal, Spain, and France.
Former positions include Head of Strategy, Planning and Control at Caixa Geral de Depósitos (2019 – 2022), Head of Corporate Division and of International Division at NOVO BANCO, SA, Portugal, Executive Board Member (CCO) at BIC Banco Internacional de Crédito and Executive Board Member (CCO and COO) at Seguros Tranquilidade.
Previously, Mr Moradas served clients from financial services and other industries as consultant at Mckinsey & Co and Roland Berger & Partners.
Mr Moradas is also a guest speaker and professor at Católica Lisbon and other prestigious academic institutions.
Ricardo Martins – Chief Crypto Officer
Master in Electronic and Computer Engineering (MSc) from Instituto Superior Técnico (Technical University of Lisbon).
Ricardo is a former Deloitte Consulting professional with more than 15 years of extensive global experience, spearheading end-to-end management of technical, operations, project, sales, and team functions across banking and insurance sector.
He has recently led the Deloitte EMEA OutSystems CoE operations for Financial Services, as well as the development of a wide range of innovative technology solutions, including blockchain and R&D projects, throughout his career.
Diogo Brás – Chief Crypto Business Officer
Diogo comes over from crypto.com with more than two years of experience in institutional business. Well-connected within the industry and expert at establishing, maintaining, and scaling institutional relationships.
Constantly seeks opportunities to grow business in the most holistic possible manner for both his and any partner institutions.
He has recently led the Crypto.com’s EMEA institutional efforts for liquidity provision on the Exchange side of business. With proven track record in the crypto fintech industry, Diogo has also ventured into other sectors having in the past built software for Interior Selections LLC – the company that produced the furniture for Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world.
Diogo was recently featured as a guest speaker at Portugal Fintech and Portugal-China Chamber of Commerce & Industry – CCILC.
Miguel Tavares – Chief Compliance Officer
Executive Master’s in management and Banking from Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics da Universidade Católica Portuguesa and an Advanced Executive Program (Managing the Business) from Nova School of Business & Economics, and Bachelor degree in Business Management from Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa.
Miguel has more than 15 years of experience in Compliance and Internal control areas and regulatory monitoring.
Former positions include Senior Internal Control Analyst and Senior Risk Analyst at NOVO BANCO, SA (2010 – 2021), and senior auditor in financial services at KPMG Portugal (2006 – 2010).