Shinhan Financial partners with Visa on stablecoin and AI payments

Shinhan Financial Group is expanding its partnership with Visa into stablecoins and AI-powered payments.

The companies are planning to test digital asset settlement functions and develop new payment services in South Korea under a strategic MOU signed on Aug. 24, which covers digital assets, AI-based payments and B2B businesses. The agreement follows talks in April on cooperation in future financial services.

Shinhan Financial and Visa will initially use Visa’s stablecoin platform to verify functions such as issuing, transferring and redeeming stablecoins. They will also jointly design business models that could fit the South Korean financial environment.

The companies will explore using stablecoins in financial services, including card payment settlement, with trials focused on determining where digital assets can be used in real-world financial transactions and how those transactions would be processed.

Beyond stablecoins, Shinhan Financial and Visa plan to develop AI-based payment models and pursue B2B and B2C payment businesses by combining their respective technologies and payment infrastructure. The companies said they will conduct the projects through phased testing.

The partnership will involve Shinhan’s major financial affiliates, including Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card and Jeju Bank. The group aims to connect payment functions across its banking and card businesses with Visa’s global payments network and digital technologies, creating a group-wide approach to future financial services.

Shinhan Financial Chairman Jin Ok-dong said the deal would broaden the companies’ long-running relationship in digital finance and allow them to combine Shinhan’s financial capabilities with Visa’s global infrastructure to develop new financial models.