KB Kookmin Bank has launched an import export corporate payment service built on Kinexys by J.P. Morgan’s Blockchain Deposit Account (BDA) network, making it the first Korean financial institution to use the network for import and export payment services.
The service will run through KB Kookmin’s domestic branches in Korea and its Singapore branch, covering remittances to 10 countries: the United States, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, India, Thailand, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, South Africa and Korea. It will initially support US dollar transactions.
Once live, Korean importers and exporters will be able to settle USD payments faster and more securely with major overseas financial institutions on the Kinexys network. Settlement times are expected to drop significantly for transactions with countries such as the US and those in the Middle East, where time zones and business days differ most from Korea’s, helping exporters collect trade proceeds sooner and manage cash more efficiently.
A KB Kookmin Bank official said the service matters because it connects global digital payments infrastructure with corporate banking in Korea, and that the bank plans to keep expanding innovative financial services as the payments landscape evolves. Chris Park, Head of Payments for Korea at J.P. Morgan, said KB Kookmin is paving the way for the next generation of payments as the first Korean institution to adopt the BDA network for corporate payments, and that the firm is proud to help bring blockchain based payments to Korean importers and exporters.
KB Kookmin Bank is one of Korea’s leading financial institutions, known for its strong brand and its broad retail and corporate banking presence nationwide. Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, the firm’s blockchain business unit within J.P. Morgan Payments, has processed more than $4 trillion in cumulative transactions with an average daily volume of $7 billion. The network supports near real time cross border settlement around the clock, plus programmable payment functionality built to make cross border payments faster and more efficient.
Digital Trade Outlook’s View: KB Kookmin
This is another sign that blockchain based settlement is becoming standard infrastructure at major banks, not just something fintech challengers experiment with. KB Kookmin launching across 10 countries at once, spanning the US, Middle East and Asia, suggests banks are starting to treat blockchain rails as core corporate banking infrastructure, especially in corridors where time zone gaps have traditionally slowed trade settlement.
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