Ripple has partnered with Jeonbuk Bank to deploy Ripple Payments for cross-border business remittances. This is making the lender the first regional bank in South Korea to adopt the service.
Ripple also stated that the deal is its third Korean partnership this year, following agreements with KBank and Kyobo Life Insurance. The service is intended to provide near-real-time settlement for Jeonbuk's business customers, including import-export companies, IT startups, and online content creators, who have historically relied on transfers that take days to complete.
The expansion adds to Ripple's institutional presence in South Korea, but the Jeonbuk announcement does not yet specify whether XRP, RLUSD, or another settlement asset will be used for the remittances.
Jeonbuk Bank Becomes Ripple Third Korean Partner This Year
Ripple Asia-Pacific Managing Director Fiona Murray said the Jeonbuk partnership reflects momentum in Korea's institutional financial sector as financial institutions build digital-asset capabilities and seek long-term infrastructure partners. Jeonbuk Bank President Park Choon-won said the partnership would support the lender's ambitions in digital finance and serve as a new growth engine for the bank.
Ripple Payments is presented as an alternative to traditional transfers that pass through multiple intermediary banks via the SWIFT network. Ripple said the service can complete settlement in seconds to minutes and operate around the clock, rather than relying on transfers that can take days.
Jeonbuk partnership follows Ripple's April partnership with KBank, South Korea's first internet-only bank. KBank serves 15 million users and is the exclusive banking partner of Upbit, South Korea's largest crypto exchange. KBank and Ripple are conducting a second-phase proof of concept using Ripple's Palisade digital wallet to test on-chain remittances to the United Arab Emirates and Thailand.
KBank pilot currently uses stablecoin-based settlement rather than XRP as a bridge asset. The partnership remains a multi-phase proof of concept rather than a live commercial remittance product.
Jeonbuk follows Ripple's April agreements with KBank and Kyobo Life Insurance. Kyobo Life, identified by Ripple as Korea's largest life insurer, partnered with the company to explore tokenized government bond settlement using Ripple Custody. Murray was involved on Ripple's side in that partnership.
Together, the three partnerships span custody, wallet infrastructure, and payments. Ripple's Jeonbuk release describes these different starting points as part of an approach designed to support institutions across custody, payments, treasury, and wallet infrastructure.