South Korea's Shinhan to use Visa's stablecoin platform for 'future finance' initiatives

South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group announced Wednesday that it has signed a strategic business agreement with Visa to collaborate on stablecoins, AI, and B2B payments for its "future finance" business.

Under the agreement, the two companies will prioritize building a stablecoin-based financial infrastructure. Shinhan plans to utilize Visa's stablecoin platform to verify issuance, remittance, and redemption, and jointly design a Korea-specific business model tailored to the domestic financial environment.

The pair also plans to integrate stablecoins into joint pilot projects involving card payment settlements, the development of AI-based future payment models, and the expansion of B2B and B2C payment businesses.

"Through this agreement, we have expanded our long-standing partnership with Visa to the broader digital finance sector," said Jin Ok-dong, CEO of Shinhan Financial Group. "Going forward, we will combine Shinhan's financial capabilities with Visa's global infrastructure to jointly design new future finance models and deliver differentiated financial experiences to our customers."

In the near future, Shinhan said it will combine the capabilities of its major subsidiaries, including Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card and Jeju Bank, with Visa's global payment network and digital technology. 

Shinhan, which reported a net income of 1.82 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in the last quarter, is among South Korea's top financial institutions driving digital transformation.

In April, Shinhan Card, its credit card subsidiary, announced a partnership with the Solana Foundation to trial stablecoin payment systems on the Layer 1 blockchain. Earlier this month, Shinhan's asset management arm signed a four-party memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation, Etherfuse, and Orca to test the issuance and distribution of a Korean won-denominated tokenized fund.

These developments come amid local legislative efforts to establish the Digital Asset Basic Act, a broad digital asset framework covering stablecoins, VASP licensing, and crypto exchange-traded funds.