KB Financial Group (105560.KS) has agreed to cooperate with the Bank of Korea (BOK) on building a deposit token-based payment and settlement service and expanding its usage as part of the central bank's digital currency pilot project, "Project Hangang."
Lee Chang-kwon, head of KB Financial's future strategy division, signed a memorandum of understanding on "expanding digital currency and deposit token-based payment and settlement" with BOK Governor Changyong Rhee at the central bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday.
The MOU was arranged as part of the BOK's broader initiative to build a digital currency and deposit token ecosystem.
Under the agreement, the two parties plan to cooperate in multiple areas, including technical collaboration and pilot projects to build distribution and settlement infrastructure for the BOK's digital currency and deposit tokens, research and testing of deposit token-based payment services, joint research and development to identify new business opportunities in digital currency and deposit tokens, and the operation and systematization of payment and settlement services.
"KB Financial will devote all of the group's capabilities to ensuring that deposit tokens take root as an everyday payment method closely integrated into daily life," Lee said. "We will do our utmost to deliver tangible results in digital currency, with reliability and stability as our top priorities."