[Digital Today reporter Ji-young Lee] Shinhan Financial Group said on Wednesday it signed a business agreement for innovation in digital financial infrastructure based on deposit tokens at the Bank of Korea headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Ok-dong Jin (진옥동) and Bank of Korea Governor Chang-yong Rhee (이창용) attended the event.

The agreement was arranged to support the successful rollout of the central bank-led second real-transaction pilot project for deposit tokens, known as Project Hangang. The two institutions plan to identify innovative financial services that people can feel in daily life and jointly explore directions for building next-generation financial infrastructure.

Shinhan Financial was selected as a partner to sign the first business agreement related to the second-phase project, based on results from the first test. It will conduct close working-level cooperation with the Bank of Korea.

The group will first review the feasibility of using deposit tokens in daily life based on its various lifestyle finance platforms. Areas to be considered include payments on the delivery app ddanggyoeyo and travel insurance premium payments for Shinhan EZ Insurance.

The two institutions also plan to introduce digital vouchers into the issuance and settlement of deposit tokens linked to national treasury subsidies. They plan to boost transparency in fund execution and cooperate to identify services people can feel using programmable money, with the aim of accelerating digital transformation in the public sector through the launch of innovative financial products.

Shinhan Financial plans to continue developing deposit token-based infrastructure to support digital transformation across various industries, including capital markets and trade finance, and to strengthen digital competitiveness in global financial markets.

Ok-dong Jin said stability and trust, along with technological innovation, were most important for the digital asset market to grow soundly. He said Shinhan Financial would work closely with the Bank of Korea based on the technological capabilities it has systematically prepared, and do its best to build digital financial infrastructure that people can use with confidence.