Seba Crypto had wanted to win a Swiss regulatory nod last month. Instead, the ambitious banking project for digital assets is being kept waiting by its supervisor, finews.com has learned. 

Front-running the regulator is always risky, but Seba was apparently certain enough of its prospects to predict it would win Finma's nod by June. The Swiss financial supervisor never commented on Seba CEO Guido Buehler's predictions.

The brash ex-UBS banker (pictured below) had even confided to associates plans for an elaborate celebration when it happened, two people familiar with the matter told finews.com. Buehler even toyed with the idea of hiring British band Coldplay to mark Seba's emergence as Switzerland's first crypto bank, these people said.

Guido Buehler

Ready to Go

Buehler has to mothball his idea for now: Finma has let the second quarter pass without adding Seba, or rival Sygnum, to its list of regulated banks. Seba has ramped staff up to roughly 50 people and is according to several insiders ready to take up operations.

The would-be bank has built up the infrastructure it needs to in order to be granted a Swiss banking license, a company spokesman said. «Seba is in constant and constructive dialogue with Finma and is convinced it fulfils the requirements for a banking license,» he said. The spokesman didn't comment on Buehler's party plans.

Nod Pushed Back

Meanwhile at Finma, the long-standing head of approvals, Hansueli Geiger, is said to be keen to put his signature on a crypto bank. However, it looks all but certain that a final decision for Seba, as well as Sygnum, will be pushed to late summer, after school holidays, several people familiar with the matter said.

While Seba is backed by ex-UBS bankers and has won Julius Baer as a partner, Sygnum has prominent support from former Swiss National Bank head Philipp Hildebrand and ex-UBS CEO Peter Wuffli.

Crypto Twofer?

Several people familiar with the vetting process predicted Finma would opt to grant both projects a banking license at the same time. The regulator, these people say, is keen to avoid inadvertently giving one project a head-start over the other – or even convey the impression of one.

Other Swiss crypto and blockchain providers have applied for distribution and broker-dealer licenses. Finma spent considerable time creating the process by which it would deal with the applications, one person who applied for a license told finews.com. This has taken longer than anticipated, which has in turn baked more time into the license-granting process.

License or Bust

Buehler's Seba Crypto as well as Sygnum co-founders Mathias Imbach and Manuel Krieger can't do anything about the delays. To be sure, both projects will founder without the coveted nod from Bern.

Imbach, responsible for Sygnum in Singapore, told finews.com recently that the project doesn't have a Plan B. At Seba, investors quickly ponied up roughly $100 million – because they assumed Buehler had the experience and clout to clinch the license. Seba's partnership with Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer also hinges on the start-up winning bank status.