Ripple Partners With Jeonbuk Bank to Speed South Korea Cross-Border Payments
Key Takeaways
- •Jeonbuk Bank is the first regional bank in South Korea to deploy Ripple Payments for international transfers.
- •The service is designed to cut settlement times from several days to seconds or minutes and operate continuously, including weekends and holidays.
- •Ripple said the agreement is its third South Korean banking partnership this year, following deals with Kyobo Life Insurance and Kbank.
- •It has not been confirmed whether XRP, RLUSD, or direct fiat payments will power the Jeonbuk Bank service.
- •XRP rose after the announcement, while trading volume and futures open interest also increased.
Ripple has partnered with South Korea's Jeonbuk Bank to expand cross-border payment services through Ripple Payments. The agreement makes Jeonbuk Bank the first regional lender in the country to adopt the platform for international transfers, according to the companies.
The partnership will focus on improving the bank's overseas payment system. Jeonbuk Bank plans to use the technology to reduce delays linked to traditional cross-border transfers, a payment area that remains central for exporters, startups, and other businesses that depend on predictable settlement times. Ripple announced the agreement in a post on X on August 18, 2026:
Jeonbuk Bank is the first regional bank in Korea to deploy Ripple Payments, replacing multi-day SWIFT transfers with near real-time, 24/7 cross-border settlement for its business customers. Our third Korean partnership this year, after Kyobo Life Insurance and Kbank, partnering…
Ripple Targets Faster Cross-Border Business Payments
Under the new arrangement, payments that can take several days through conventional banking channels could settle within seconds or minutes. The service will also operate 24 hours a day, including weekends and public holidays.
The new service will mainly support businesses that make frequent cross-border payments. Target users include import-export firms, technology startups, and digital content companies.
According to Fiona Murray, managing director for Asia Pacific at Ripple, the agreement is indicative of increased institutional interest from South Korea's financial institutions.
Park Choon-won, president of Jeonbuk Bank, said the collaboration is in line with the bank's expansion plans beyond its regional ambitions. He further noted that the bank wanted to enhance its standing in the digital finance space.
It is not yet known whether the service will use XRP tokens, the Ripple RLUSD stablecoin, or direct fiat-to-fiat payments. The launch date and the fees for the services have not been announced yet.
The Ripple payment system currently supports the South Korean won via local clearing facilities. The payment documentation mentions KRW support for certain B2B payments of up to $2 million per transaction, underscoring that the rollout is aimed at practical business transfers rather than a broad consumer launch.
Ripple Adds Another South Korean Institution
Jeonbuk Bank's tie-up is one of many institutional collaborations Ripple has secured in South Korea this year.
Ripple partnered with Kyobo Life Insurance on April 15. That tie-up focused on investigating blockchain technology for the settlement of government bonds.
On April 27, Kbank collaborated with the blockchain company. South Korea's first online-only bank will use Ripple Custody for Wallet-as-a-Service features.
The agreement with Jeonbuk Bank brings international payments into the list of institutional services offered by the company in the country, expanding Ripple's footprint beyond custody and settlement-focused use cases.
XRP Price Moves Higher After Announcement
XRP rallied by more than 0.60% following the announcement of the Jeonbuk Bank collaboration. The cryptocurrency is trading around $0.996 even as it declined by almost 1.5% over the past 24 hours.
XRP hit a 24-hour low of $0.988 and a high of $1.01 during the same period. Trading volume rose by nearly 40% over that window.
Data from CoinGlass showed that total XRP futures open interest had increased by 0.60% over one hour to nearly $2.77 billion. XRP futures open interest on the CME rose by more than 0.44%, while the increase was above 0.83% on Binance.
This market response came after Ripple's latest institutional bank collaboration in South Korea. However, the two firms have yet to confirm whether XRP will be used as the international payment solution by Jeonbuk Bank.
