Update (Sept. 23, 2:20 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from an RBI spokesperson on the planned rollout.
Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), an Austrian banking group with operations across Central and Eastern Europe, is expanding its cryptocurrency push through a group-wide partnership with Bitpanda.
Bitpanda Enterprise will provide the digital asset infrastructure that RBI’s network banks can use to introduce crypto services, potentially reaching about 18 million customers, according to a joint announcement on Wednesday. Individual banks will determine their offerings and rollout based on local market and regulatory requirements, the companies said.
RBI CEO Michael Höllerer said the bank is seeing growing demand for crypto assets across its markets and is addressing it with Bitpanda.
“As a customer-centric bank, we are committed to meeting our customers’ needs in the best possible way,” he said.
An RBI spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the bank plans to begin the rollout in Albania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with the ambition of offering the services in those markets in the first half of 2027. The service is already live in Austria.
A spokesperson for Bitpanda said the rollout remains at an early stage and will proceed gradually based on local market and regulatory requirements, with further details to come as individual markets are confirmed.
The partnership builds on a crypto integration launched with Austria’s Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien in 2024.
Bitpanda, which is authorized under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), told Cointelegraph it is regularly in discussions with banks and financial institutions exploring crypto brokerage services but declined to comment on active or confidential talks.
Related: Banks double on EU MiCA crypto provider list as share hits 23%
