Ripple Partners With Jeonbuk Bank on Cross-Border Payments, First South Korean Bank to Adopt Ripple Payments

Ripple said Aug. 18 that it has formed a strategic partnership with Jeonbuk Bank, a unit of JB Financial Group, to help build a next-generation digital finance ecosystem, including blockchain-based cross-border payments.

The signing ceremony was attended by Fiona Murray, Ripple's managing director for Asia-Pacific, other Ripple executives, Jeonbuk Bank Chief Executive Officer Park Chun-won and other officials from both companies.

The companies plan broad cooperation across key digital-finance areas, including cross-border payment systems, as the financial industry responds to the integration of digital assets into the regulated sector and to broader digital transformation.

Jeonbuk Bank will become the first South Korean bank to adopt Ripple Payments, Ripple's enterprise payments solution.

Ripple Payments can reduce the multiple intermediary steps involved in overseas remittances handled through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, and support near real-time settlement within seconds, the companies said. Jeonbuk Bank plans to use the service to offer faster, more transparent and more cost-efficient remittances to customers that frequently transact overseas, including exporters, importers, information-technology startups and online content creators.

The partnership will help Jeonbuk Bank strengthen its digital-finance capabilities and expand its global financial-services reach. Ripple, for its part, aims to widen the use of blockchain-based payments infrastructure in the institutional finance market through partnerships with South Korean financial institutions.

"Jeonbuk Bank is ready to move beyond being a regional bank and become a leading digital-finance bank that meets global standards," Park said. "This partnership with Ripple will serve as a new growth driver for Jeonbuk Bank, and we will lead innovation that goes beyond adopting technology to reshape the financial paradigm."

The partnership reflects broader momentum toward digital-asset adoption across South Korea's institutional finance market, Murray said. Major financial institutions are actively building digital-asset capabilities while seeking infrastructure partners they can trust over the long term.

"Regional banks play an important role in the real economy," she added. "As the first bank in South Korea to adopt Ripple Payments, Jeonbuk Bank will be able to provide client companies directly with near real-time cross-border payment services, marking a meaningful step for the country's broader financial ecosystem."