The Bank of Korea launches a 24-hour KRW settlement network pilot, with four banks—KB Kookmin, Woori, Hana, and Shinhan—connected first. Foreign investors can settle KRW transactions through their RFI-K accounts during local business hours without needing to open accounts directly in South Korea. The full launch is scheduled for January 2027, when the network will be expanded to more domestic and overseas institutions. (Background: South Korea’s stablecoin war—an ongoing battle between the central bank and the Financial Services Commission over draft bills, as Seoul misses the first-mover opportunity.) (Additional context: Hana Bank in South Korea issues a $100 million digital bond using the Euroclear blockchain; settlement is compressed to the same day.) On Monday (Sept. 21), the Bank of Korea (BOK) kicks off what is its first-ever 24-hour KRW settlement network pilot, allowing foreign investors to complete KRW trades and settlements during business hours in their own locations, no longer constrained by the operating hours of banks in South Korea. This is a major step for Seoul to strengthen the internationalization of the won and the cross-border payment infrastructure. According to an official central bank announcement, the international remittance network has been connected to four local South Korean banks and entered the trial execution stage: KB Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, Hana Bank, and Shinhan Bank. The comprehensive rollout is set for January 2027, at which time participating institutions will be expanded to other Korean financial institutions as well as foreign banks. RFI-K account: a new entry point for foreign investors The operation of this 24-hour network is fairly straightforward. Foreign investors can use accounts from “Registered Foreign Institutions for KRW Business” (RFI-K) to conduct KRW transaction settlement during business hours at their locations, without needing to open accounts with financial institutions in South Korea. The network operates around the clock during all times except weekends and public holidays. RFI-K is a system established by South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in 2021, enabling qualifying foreign financial institutions to provide KRW settlement services for overseas clients without having Korean physical offices. This 24-hour network pilot effectively adds always-on cross-border remittance capability on top of the RFI-K framework. The next step in KRW internationalization In its announcement, the central bank said the network is expected to strengthen the won’s international standing by improving foreign investors’ access to KRW settlement infrastructure and attracting more overseas capital inflows into South Korea’s bond and stock markets. In a global payments system dominated by the U.S. dollar, major economies are all pushing forward internationalization infrastructure for their own currencies. South Korea’s launch of a 24-hour settlement network is therefore comparable to regional efforts such as China’s digital yuan (e-CNY) and Japan’s Bank of Japan digital yen experiment. The Bank of Korea has also been actively building out in the tokenized cross-border payments space recently. Led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Project Agorá completed cross-border payment tests with real value in July, using tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits, with the won also included as one of the test currencies. Separately, the central bank’s in-house Project Hangang uses blockchain technology together with a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) to settle tokenized commercial bank deposits, showing that Seoul’s investment in digital infrastructure is not limited to traditional remittances. Market impact and what to watch The 24-hour KRW settlement network pilot will directly benefit the convenience for foreign investors to participate in South Korea’s asset markets. Currently, when foreign investors trade in South Korea’s bond market, they are often limited by time-zone issues—when European or American trading hours occur, South Korean banks are already closed, causing settlement delays. Once the always-on network goes live, this issue will be greatly alleviated. What is worth watching is the participation level of foreign banks after the comprehensive launch in January 2027—this will be a key variable. If large European and U.S. commercial banks directly connect to the RFI-K network, the won’s usage frequency as a trading currency within Asia could further increase. By comparison, Taiwan has not yet introduced an always-on TWD cross-border settlement mechanism. Foreign investors’ participation in domestic bond and stock markets is still limited by bank business hours, meaning Taiwan is clearly behind South Korea in terms of infrastructure buildout. Related reports Deutsche Bank to roll out institutional crypto asset custody services!—10月 MiCA licensing first, lock up BTC, ETH, USDC (Wen Hongjun stablecoin new finance 20)—one year since the U.S. “genius act” for crypto! Crypto narratives have been fully taken over by traditional finance—where is Taiwan’s strategy? 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