South Korea's Jeonbuk Bank, a regional lender headquartered in Jeonju in North Jeolla Province, has partnered with blockchain payments company Ripple to deploy a cross-border payment system for its business customers.

Announcing the collaboration on Tuesday, Ripple said its Ripple Payments platform will enable the bank's customers to settle overseas transfers within seconds to minutes, with operations running around the clock. The service is aimed at businesses, including import-export companies, technology startups, and online content creators. Ripple Payments is the company's flagship cross-border product, which Ripple says connects financial institutions across a network spanning dozens of payout markets.

According to Ripple, the system will provide Jeonbuk Bank with faster and less expensive remittance capabilities than conventional transfers routed through intermediary banks via the SWIFT messaging network, a process that can take several days to complete. In South Korea's export-driven economy, where small and mid-sized importers and exporters regularly move funds across borders, the settlement windows and intermediary fees associated with correspondent banking have long been a practical pain point for business customers.

Several operational details remain undisclosed. The companies did not say whether the service is already available to Jeonbuk Bank customers, and they did not identify the supported payment corridors, currencies, fees, or expected transaction volumes. They also did not state whether transfers would be settled using XRP, Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin, another digital asset, or fiat-based payment rails.

The agreement marks Ripple's third partnership with a South Korean financial institution this year. The company previously partnered with Kyobo Life Insurance to explore onchain government bond settlement and with internet-only Kbank on institutional wallet infrastructure. The run of Korean deals comes as the country's financial sector tests blockchain applications ranging from tokenized securities to custody, and as lawmakers debate how to regulate won-based stablecoins and digital asset issuance following the Digital Asset User Protection Act that took effect in 2024.

Cointelegraph reached out to Ripple for more information but did not receive a response before publication.