Ripple and Jeonbuk Bank have launched near real-time cross-border payments, making Jeonbuk the first regional bank in South Korea to use Ripple Payments, the company announced.

Under the partnership, Jeonbuk Bank's business customers can settle international transfers in near real time, replacing traditional SWIFT-based processes that can take days. Ripple said the service runs 24/7 and settles payments within seconds to minutes. The service also gives Jeonbuk Bank a system for handling cross-border remittances outside traditional banking hours. The push for faster settlement also tracks a global policy agenda: the G20 has endorsed quantitative targets to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper, and more transparent by 2027.

The rollout targets the bank's global business customers, including import-export companies, IT startups, and online content creators. Those segments are significant in South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, where exports and digital-content sales generate steady cross-border payment flows. These customers previously relied on bank transfers that moved through multiple intermediary banks using the SWIFT network. Ripple Payments changes the process by providing near real-time settlement, and Jeonbuk Bank will use the service to streamline international transfers for importers, startups, and content creators.

Ripple Details Korea Partnership

Fiona Murray, Ripple's managing director for Asia Pacific, said the agreement adds to the company's work with Korean financial institutions. She said regional banks serve businesses and described Jeonbuk Bank as Korea's first regional bank using Ripple Payments.

Park Choon-won, president of JB Jeonbuk Bank, said the partnership supports the bank's move toward digital finance. He also said the agreement would create a new growth engine and support innovation beyond adopting new technology.

Kyobo Life and Kbank Expand Ripple Work

The announcement follows two other Ripple partnerships in Korea this year. With the Jeonbuk Bank deployment, Ripple's Korean partnerships now span cross-border payments, digital asset custody, and on-chain government bond settlement.

Kbank, Korea's first internet-only bank, is deploying institutional wallet-as-a-service infrastructure through Ripple Custody. Its work with Ripple focuses on digital asset wallet infrastructure rather than cross-border payment settlement.

Meanwhile, Kyobo Life Insurance, Korea's largest life insurer, is exploring blockchain-based settlement for tokenized government bonds. The insurer's project focuses on on-chain government bond settlement.

The three partnerships cover different areas, including payments, custody, and wallet infrastructure. Ripple said each Korean institution approached the company with a different need. The company described its platform as covering custody, payments, treasury, and wallet infrastructure. Together, the deals give Ripple live or in-progress deployments across three distinct product lines in a single national market.

Jeonbuk Bank's deployment is the latest of the three Korean partnerships announced by Ripple this year. The bank is using Ripple Payments specifically for cross-border remittances serving its business customers. Whether other Korean regional banks adopt similar services remains an open question, as no further regional-bank deployments have been announced.