[Absa Becomes the First African Bank to Offer Digital Asset Custody Services] According to Bloomberg, Absa Group has become the first African bank to provide digital asset custody services. The bank has received regulatory approval in South Africa and will offer secure storage, management, and transfer services for digital assets to institutional clients in South Africa. Currently, it supports Bitcoin, XRP Ledger, Ethereum, and USDC, with plans to expand to other assets. Rob Downes, Head of Digital Assets at Absa Corporate and Investment Banking, stated that the service is expected to be extended to other customer groups in South Africa in the future and introduced to other African countries where the bank operates, pending regulatory approval.