Ripple signs Jeonbuk Bank in South Korea for round-the-clock cross-border payments
Tech & Launches ·
The deal deploys Ripple Payments to settle international transfers in seconds or minutes rather than the days typical of SWIFT-routed transactions.
Ripple has partnered with South Korea's Jeonbuk Bank to roll out Ripple Payments, a system built to move money across borders 24/7, according to The Block. The arrangement is aimed at cutting settlement times from the multi-day windows common under SWIFT-based transfers down to seconds or minutes.
The mechanics behind the shift reflect a broader gap in how cross-border banking works: SWIFT itself functions as a messaging network, not a settlement layer, meaning a bank's international payment instruction travels separately from the actual movement of funds, which typically occurs through correspondent account balances rather than an instant transfer. That structural lag is part of what has kept international remittances slow, and it's the specific friction Ripple's deployment with Jeonbuk Bank is designed to remove by handling both messaging and settlement through its own payments rails.
The Jeonbuk Bank tie-up also marks Ripple's third partnership with a Korean bank this year, according to CryptoPotato, extending a pattern of regional bank adoption in the country. Additional reporting in the cluster describes the deal as the first instance of a regional bank in South Korea adopting Ripple's payments infrastructure, distinguishing it from prior partnerships with larger national institutions.
The move sits alongside a wider set of efforts to link legacy bank messaging with blockchain-based settlement, including SWIFT's own pilots layering blockchain ledgers and ISO 20022 standards onto its existing network with dozens of banks. Those parallel initiatives suggest banks are testing multiple paths toward faster cross-border settlement, with Ripple's bilateral bank deployments representing one approach and SWIFT-led consortium pilots representing another.
What remains unclear is the transaction volume or corridor specifics for the Jeonbuk Bank rollout, including which countries or currencies the remittances will cover and on what timeline the service goes live. Also unresolved is how Ripple's bank-by-bank partnership model in South Korea will compare, in adoption and speed, with SWIFT's own blockchain pilot programs now onboarding dozens of banks globally.