DZ Bank, Germany's second-largest lender by assets after Deutsche Bank, has tapped Swiss firm Metaco for its digital asset custody services.

This is the fourth such partnership Metaco has made with major financial institutions in the last eight months. The deal follows pacts with Citibank (C), Societe Generale (GLE) and DekaBank in selecting the Lausanne, Switzerland-based firm to develop digital asset offerings for institutional clients.

DZ will use Metaco's custody tech platform Harmonize to handle its crypto services for institutional clients.

"With the offering we can build by using this technology, we trust to create a durable and fast-growing business cooperation as well as an attractive solution for our clients that can also meet the requirements of digital currencies and decentralized financial instruments," said Nils Christopeit, DZ's digital custody design solution lead.

DZ's digital asset ambitions suggest that crypto enthusiasm remains high among traditional finance entities in Germany in spite of the market downturn in 2022 and the volatility thrown up by events like FTX's dramatic collapse.

Read more: Bernstein Says Custody Services Are the Foundation for Institutional Crypto Adoption