Choi Woohyung (left), CEO of K Bank, Wang Hao, Vice President of Changer, and Moon Bumyoung, Head of Development at BPMG, are posing for a commemorative photo at the business agreement ceremony held last month in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Provided by K Bank
K Bank is partnering with local companies to drive innovation in digital asset-based overseas remittance and payment services between Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
On January 15, K Bank announced that it has signed a "Korea-UAE Digital Asset and Stablecoin Global Remittance Infrastructure Business Agreement (MOU)" with Changer.ae Limited, a UAE-based digital asset specialist, and BPMG, a domestic blockchain company.
This agreement aims to jointly develop a next-generation remittance and payment network connecting Korea and the UAE, the financial hub of the Middle East, based on digital assets, and to discover new business models utilizing blockchain technology.
Through this agreement, the three companies will jointly pursue: ▲ the establishment of a digital asset-based overseas remittance and payment infrastructure; ▲ cooperation on technologies and services related to digital asset custody, conversion, and settlement; and ▲ the development of new business models utilizing digital assets.
The top priority is to begin a proof of concept (PoC) for stablecoin-based remittance between the Korean won (KRW) and the UAE dirham (AED). Under this structure, when a Korean customer sends funds in Korean won from their K Bank account, the funds are converted into stablecoins and transmitted instantly to the UAE using blockchain technology, where they are settled locally in dirhams.
K Bank will be responsible for the Korean won deposit and withdrawal accounts and for establishing the won settlement infrastructure in compliance with domestic anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and other regulatory guidelines. Changer will handle digital asset custody, currency exchange between fiat and digital assets, and local settlement in dirhams. BPMG will collaborate with K Bank to develop the stablecoin remittance and exchange infrastructure based on the Korean won. Through these efforts, the three companies plan to build a remittance infrastructure that is faster and more efficient than existing international remittance networks such as SWIFT.
This proof of concept goes beyond a simple technical test, focusing on creating a "regulatory-compliant model" that meets both Korea's Specific Financial Information Act and the UAE's digital asset regulations. The three companies plan to jointly establish standards for integrating travel rule solutions, customer identification (KYC), and fraud detection systems (FDS).
The main targets of this project are high-net-worth individuals and digital asset investors who travel between Korea and the UAE, as well as trading companies operating between the two countries. The goal is to address the time and cost inconveniences that the existing financial network has been unable to resolve, particularly in areas such as real estate investment, startup funding, and import-export payments.
Choi Woohyung, CEO of K Bank, stated, "Our collaboration with Changer will serve as a crucial bridgehead for K Bank's entry into the global market, especially the Middle Eastern financial market, which boasts abundant liquidity. By combining the trustworthiness of a bank with the innovation of blockchain, we aim to set the standard for safe and efficient digital asset-based global remittance."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
