Societe Generale - FORGE Partners with METACO to Expand its Institutional Digital Assets Capabilities

PARIS and LAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Societe Generale - FORGE (SG - FORGE), a fully integrated subsidiary of Societe Generale, providing issuers and investors with end-to-end services to issue, invest and manage digital-native security tokens registered on public blockchains, has selected METACO, a market-leading provider of digital asset management technology and infrastructure, to orchestrate its digital asset custody operations.

Societe Generale is a pioneer in the Digital Ledger Technology space, with innovation sitting at the heart of the group's strategic priorities. Since 2019, Societe Generale and its subsidiary SG - FORGE structured several native security token issuances deployed on blockchain for their clients such as the European Investment Bank's (EIB) €100 million digital bond issued in 2021.

Societe Generale is now offering a range of capital market products to institutional clients under a native security token format on Ethereum and Tezos with full banking level safety and regulatory compliance.

The partnership enables SG - FORGE to continue setting the agenda on the integration of security tokens into traditional finance, and leverage METACO's bank-grade digital asset custody and orchestration platform, Harmonize, to further expand its offering at scale. These developments are taking place within a larger context marked by the acceleration of market digitalization using blockchain technology, notably through the forthcoming implementation of the EU Pilot Regime and which will permit the processing of security tokens through market infrastructures in compatibility with applicable EU regulations.

Security tokens allow for a fully digital issuance process and lifecycle. Due to their innovative characteristics, they have the potential to significantly improve efficiency, speed and transparency in financial markets and make transactions safer and more resilient – all while offering benefits similar to those of financial instruments issued in a conventional way.

Jean-Marc Stenger, CEO of Societe Generale - FORGE, commented: "Bridging the digital asset industry and traditional finance requires a multifaceted approach incorporating institutional-grade technology, regulation, as well as industrial capacities. By partnering with METACO, SG - FORGE will be able to leverage their secure infrastructure to ensure that we have a solid foundation to grow our digital asset market activities."

Adrien Treccani, CEO and Founder of METACO, commented: "Societe Generale plays a key role in shaping the future of finance. A leading innovator on digital securities, SG - FORGE is setting the standard for the asset class, providing a model for a fully regulated and integrated ecosystem across traditional and DLT-based systems of finance. We are proud to partner with SG - FORGE and provide our industry leading digital asset infrastructure to support the bank in its vision of bridging traditional and digital finance."

Alexandre Fleury Co-Head of Global Markets Activities, Societe Generale, commented: "Leveraging on the differentiating expertise of SG - FORGE and our intimate knowledge of markets activities, this partnership shows Societe Generale' capacity to step-by-step implement a truly innovative technology, thus helping build tomorrow's global capital market distribution approach and infrastructure."

A leading technology provider to top tier, regulated financial institutions in the digital asset ecosystem, METACO's infrastructure is supporting key live implementations, in various regulatory jurisdictions, including Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom, and Singapore, with other notable projects in progress in jurisdictions such as the United States, Australia and Hong Kong.

About Societe Generale - FORGE

Societe Generale - FORGE, a fully integrated subsidiary of Societe Generale, licensed as an investment firm under MiFID regulation, has built an open, secure and institutional-grade framework for Security Token operations, underpinned by full banking level safety and regulatory compliance. Societe Generale - FORGE provides issuers, lead managers and investors end-to-end services to issue, invest and manage digital-native security tokens registered on public blockchains.

Societe Generale - FORGE's Security Tokens are compliant with the CAST^[1] open-source interoperability and securitization framework. For more information, visit www.sgforge.com and www.cast-framework.com

About METACO

Founded in 2015 in Switzerland, METACO is a technology company whose mission is to enable financial and non-financial institutions to securely manage their digital asset business and capitalize on the burgeoning digital asset economy.

The company's core product, Harmonize, is an orchestration system for digital assets. From cryptocurrency custody and trading to tokenization, staking and smart contract management, the platform seamlessly connects institutions to the new world of decentralized finance (DeFi).

METACO has established itself as the Tier 1 banking standard, trusted by and in live production with global custodians, exchanges, private and universal banks. Its software, technology and infrastructure solutions enable financial institutions to store, trade, issue and manage digital assets, with the highest possible security and agility. For more information, visit www.metaco.com

^[1] Compliant Architecture for Security Tokens