Arab Bank Switzerland Opens ADGM Digital Asset Advisory Unit Led by Valérie Noël

The entity holds a Financial Services Permission from ADGM's Financial Services Regulatory Authority. It will advise clients on accessing and managing their digital asset holdings and on planning how those holdings are passed on. It is aimed at financial institutions, corporates, fintech companies, family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

The new unit gives the Geneva-based bank a second regulated presence in the UAE. In June 2026 it opened ABS (Middle East) Ltd in the Dubai International Financial Centre. That business is led by chief executive Samir Atitallah and offers wealth management to entrepreneurs, family offices and wealthy individuals. Under the split, Dubai handles traditional wealth management and Abu Dhabi handles digital asset advice.

Noël has more than 30 years of experience in financial markets, wealth management, asset management, trading and digital assets. She began her career in Geneva and held senior roles at HSBC Private Bank before moving to Syz Group. As head of trading there, she ran multi-asset trading and the digitalisation of the bank's trading infrastructure.

"Investments in this space are becoming an increasingly important part of how institutions and investors allocate capital, and they require the same discipline, transparency and rigorous standards as traditional asset classes," Noël said.

The bank has offered digital asset services for several years. It began cryptocurrency custody and trading in 2019 and says it was the first private bank regulated by Switzerland's FINMA to do so. It has since added staking, lending and legacy planning, and in 2022 it began offering custody for NFTs. It also runs Digital Explorer, a platform that shows clients their holdings and market data in one place.

The group says its assets under management are close to $25 billion. It has also bought Gonet, a Swiss private bank founded in 1845.

The bank has not said how many staff the Abu Dhabi unit will employ or when it expects to take on its first clients.