Jeonbuk Bank has entered a partnership with Ripple to introduce its cross-border payments platform for business customers. The arrangement positions the regional South Korean bank as the first of its kind in the country to deploy the service, aiming to deliver international transfers in seconds or minutes around the clock.

The offering targets corporate users that regularly move funds across borders, including import-export firms, technology startups and digital content creators. Traditional transfers routed through intermediary banks via the SWIFT network can require several days to complete. Ripple Payments is presented as a faster and lower-cost alternative that operates continuously rather than only during standard banking hours.

Service Details and Scope

According to the companies, the platform will allow Jeonbuk Bank customers to settle overseas payments more efficiently by reducing reliance on multi-step correspondent banking processes. Settlement times are described as near real-time, with operations available 24 hours a day, including weekends and holidays.

Specific payment corridors, supported currencies, fee structures, expected transaction volumes and a commercial launch timeline have not been disclosed. The parties also have not stated whether the service will settle using XRP, Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, other digital assets or purely fiat pathways.

Jeonbuk Bank is a subsidiary of JB Financial Group and serves clients primarily from North Jeolla Province. Bank President Park Choon-won described the collaboration as a step that supports the institution’s digital finance ambitions.

Ripple’s Growing Footprint in South Korea

The Jeonbuk agreement marks Ripple’s third partnership with a South Korean financial institution in 2026. Earlier this year the company worked with Kyobo Life Insurance on exploring blockchain-based settlement of tokenized government bonds and with internet-only Kbank on institutional wallet infrastructure. The Kbank collaboration has included proof-of-concept testing of on-chain remittances to markets such as the United Arab Emirates and Thailand, using stablecoin settlement rather than XRP as a bridge asset.

Fiona Murray, managing director of Asia Pacific at Ripple, pointed to broader institutional interest in the market.

Together the three deals cover different areas of Ripple’s institutional offerings, spanning payments, custody and related digital asset infrastructure. Ripple’s wider payments network is said to operate across more than 60 markets and has processed over $100 billion in volume since launch, though those figures are global and not specific to the Jeonbuk arrangement.

Unresolved Aspects

Neither company has confirmed whether the new service is already live for Jeonbuk Bank customers. Details on compliance processes, exact delivery times by destination market and how the solution will interact with existing local clearing rails remain limited. Ripple’s documentation indicates existing support for Korean won business-to-business transfers under certain limits, yet the precise configuration for this partnership has not been outlined.

The announcement arrives as South Korean financial institutions continue to explore digital asset capabilities amid evolving regulatory frameworks for stablecoins and cross-border activity. No transaction volume projections or revenue targets linked to the service have been released by either side.