Nomura's Laser Digital Secures Conditional OCC Approval for US National Trust Bank
Laser Digital, the digital asset subsidiary of Nomura Group, has received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a de novo national trust bank.
The newly approved entity, Laser Digital National Trust Bank, will operate under federal supervision as a wholly owned subsidiary of Laser Digital. The institutional mandate restricts the bank from engaging in deposit-taking or lending activities. Instead, it will focus strictly on providing multi-asset fiduciary trust and custody services to institutional clients.
The OCC’s regulatory greenlight follows a comprehensive review of Laser Digital’s business model, management team, and capitalization strategy. However, final authorization to launch operations remains contingent upon the firm satisfying all of the OCC's pre-opening conditions.
Once fully chartered, the Trust Bank aims to bridge existing infrastructure gaps in the digital asset market by offering three core institutional services:
- FX and Stablecoin Intermediation: Facilitating federally regulated cross-currency settlement across fiat, stablecoins, and digital asset instruments.
- Collateral Management: Allowing institutions to mobilize assets across multi-venue margin accounts, execute cross-margining between digital and traditional assets, and optimize yield on posted collateral.
- Multi-Asset Fiduciary Custody: Providing unified federal oversight for the safekeeping and administration of digital assets, tokenized instruments, and conventional financial assets.
The charter effectively unifies Laser Digital’s existing operational infrastructure—which has been built out across the UAE, Japan, and the United States over the past three years—under a singular federal regulatory framework.
"Institutions have been asking for custody, collateral mobility and currency intermediation across fiat and stablecoins, in one regulated structure," said Purvi Maniar, Laser Digital Group Chief Legal Officer and President of Laser Digital National Trust Bank, noting that the firm's immediate focus is now on meeting the OCC's final pre-opening mandates.
Headquartered in Zurich, Laser Digital holds existing regulatory licenses from the UAE’s VARA and ADGM. The firm specializes in yield-bearing crypto funds, over-the-counter (OTC) trading strategies, and structured treasury management solutions.
Norbert Gehrke
