Ripple, the leading provider of blockchain-based enterprise solutions across traditional and digital finance, today announced a partnership with Jeonbuk Bank, making it the first regional bank in Korea to deploy Ripple Payments for cross-border remittances, bringing near real-time settlement to businesses that have historically relied on transfers taking days to complete.

Traditional bank transfers pass through multiple intermediary banks via the SWIFT network and can take days to process. Ripple Payments replaces this with near real-time settlement, completing in seconds to minutes, and operating 24/7. Jeonbuk Bank can now offer faster, more transparent and cost-effective remittance services to its global business customers, including import-export companies, IT startups and online content creators.

Fiona Murray, managing director, Asia Pacific at Ripple said, "This partnership with Jeonbuk Bank reflects the growing momentum we are seeing across Korea's institutional financial sector, where leading financial institutions are actively building out their digital asset capabilities and seeking infrastructure partners they can rely on for the long term. Regional banks play a vital role in the real economy. As the first regional bank in Korea to deploy Ripple Payments, Jeonbuk Bank is extending near real-time cross-border settlement directly to the businesses it serves, and this is a meaningful step for Korea's broader financial ecosystem."

Park Choon-won, president of JB Jeonbuk Bank said, "With this partnership with Ripple, JB Jeonbuk Bank is ready to move beyond its role as a regional bank and emerge as a digital finance leader that meets global standards. This partnership will become a new growth engine for the bank, and we will lead innovation that reshapes the financial paradigm, going beyond the adoption of new technology."

Today's announcement follows Ripple's partnerships this year with two of Korea's most prominent financial institutions — Kyobo Life Insurance Korea's largest life insurer, exploring on-chain government bond settlement, and Kbank, Korea's first internet-only bank, deploying institutional wallet-as-a-service infrastructure through Ripple Custody. Each institution came to Ripple with a different starting point and a different need — and that reflects the core of Ripple's approach: a platform built to meet institutions wherever they are on the digital asset journey, whether that is custody, payments, treasury or wallet infrastructure, and deliver it in an integrated way. Together, these partnerships demonstrate Ripple's growing momentum across every segment of Korea's institutional financial market.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker