"Bank of Korea Governor Changyong Lee Meets with Heads of Six Major Banks to Explain Digital Currency... Requests Cooperation for CBDC Test"

It has been reported that Changyong Lee, the Governor of the Bank of Korea, has been meeting with the heads of the six major commercial banks in the country to personally explain the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project.

According to industry sources on the 22nd, Governor Lee recently visited each of the six banks, including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NH Nonghyup, and IBK Industrial Bank, for approximately 30-minute meetings with the bank heads. This move is interpreted as an effort to encourage cooperation from major banks. It is considered unusual for the Governor of the Bank of Korea to personally visit and conduct one-on-one meetings with bank heads.

During the meetings, Governor Lee reportedly explained the background and purpose of the 'Agora Project' in which the Bank of Korea is participating, and requested active cooperation from each bank. He also requested cooperation for 'Project Han River,' a domestic CBDC test led by the Bank of Korea. Project Han River is an initiative to experiment with converting commercial bank deposits into digital tokens for real-life payment applications, with the first test conducted last month involving the general public.

Furthermore, Governor Lee is scheduled to hold a meeting with the heads of the six major banks at the Bank of Korea headquarters on the 26th. Timothy Adams, the President of the Institute of International Finance (IIF), who is visiting Korea, is also expected to attend.

Meanwhile, the Agora Project is an international joint research initiative aimed at improving cross-border payment efficiency using tokenized bank deposits and institutional digital currencies, with testing set to begin in the second half of this year. Seven countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, Switzerland, Korea, and Mexico, are participating, and all six major banks are included in the project.