Ripple teams up with Jeonbuk Bank to upgrade South Korea's cross-border payments

Ripple has entered a partnership with Jeonbuk Bank, a South Korean regional lender, to integrate Ripple Payments for international money transfers, according to CoinDesk. Jeonbuk Bank said it is the first regional bank in the country to adopt the platform. The companies said the service is designed to streamline cross-border remittances by cutting waiting times and reducing the operational complexity of traditional transfer rails. Ripple said the rollout will focus on corporate cross-border payments and is intended to modernize Jeonbuk Bank's international payments system. Ripple noted that conventional cross-border transfers often take several days, while Ripple Payments can shorten settlement to seconds or minutes and operate 24/7, including weekends and holidays. The initial target customers are businesses, with emphasis on three segments: import/export firms, IT startups, and digital content-related companies. Fiona Murray, Ripple's Managing Director for Asia Pacific, said infrastructure adoption across South Korea's institutional financial sector is accelerating. Jeonbuk Bank said the partnership will strengthen its digital financial services capabilities. Key implementation details have not been disclosed. The announcement did not specify whether settlements will use XRP, Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin, or direct fiat-to-fiat transfers. The parties also did not provide information on funding arrangements. Several items remain unclear, including the official launch date, the fee structure, and the first set of supported countries and regions. The partners said additional product and commercial details will be released later. Ripple has been expanding institutional ties in South Korea this year. The company cited three major partnerships in 2026: on April 15, KB Life partnered with Ripple to explore blockchain-based government bond settlement; on April 27, internet bank Kbank worked with Ripple to introduce an institutional-grade Wallet as a Service powered by Ripple Custody; the Jeonbuk Bank deal extends Ripple Payments' footprint in the country's bank-led cross-border payments market. Ripple's payment infrastructure currently supports Korean won settlement. Public documentation indicates that, in specific business scenarios, individual KRW business-to-business transfers can reach up to $2 million per transaction.