Ripple has partnered with Jeonbuk Bank, and the deal makes Jeonbuk the first regional bank in Korea to adopt Ripple Payments for cross-border remittances. It’s a shift for a segment that has relied on transfers taking days to clear.
Bank transfers typically move through several intermediary banks on the SWIFT network, which is what makes them slow. Ripple Payments cuts that out. Settlement now happens in seconds to minutes, any time of day. For Jeonbuk Bank’s business customers, including import-export firms, IT startups, and online content creators, that means remittances that are faster, more transparent, and cheaper to send.
Fiona Murray, Managing Director, Asia Pacific at Ripple, said the partnership reflects rising momentum across Korea’s institutional financial sector, where major financial institutions are actively building out digital asset capabilities and looking for infrastructure partners they can depend on long term. She noted that regional banks play a vital role in the real economy, and that Jeonbuk Bank becoming the first regional bank in Korea to deploy Ripple Payments marks a meaningful step for the country’s broader financial ecosystem.
Park Choon-won, President of JB Jeonbuk Bank, said the partnership positions the bank to move beyond its role as a regional player and grow into a digital finance leader that meets global standards, calling it a new growth engine and a step toward reshaping the financial paradigm beyond simply adopting new technology.
This isn’t Ripple’s first move in Korea this year. It also partnered with Kyobo Life Insurance, the country’s largest life insurer, on exploring on-chain government bond settlement, and with Kbank, Korea’s first internet-only bank, which is now using Ripple Custody for institutional wallet-as-a-service infrastructure. Each partner came in with different needs, which is really the point: Ripple’s approach is to meet institutions wherever they are, whether that’s custody, payments, treasury, or wallet infrastructure, and deliver it all through one integrated platform.