Hana Financial Group, one of South Korea’s largest financial conglomerates, has signed a business agreement with UK-based Standard Chartered to cooperate across global finance and digital-asset activities, Yonhap News reported. The deal covers collaboration in areas including investment banking, money markets, foreign exchange and digital assets.
Hana’s chairman, Ham Young-joo, said the partnership aims to generate synergies in emerging financial areas and open new growth opportunities by combining the two firms’ networks and expertise. Cointelegraph reached out to both companies for comment but had not received responses by the time of publication.
The agreement builds on Hana’s recent push into digital finance. On March 5, the group announced partnerships with Circle—the issuer of USDC—and Crypto.com to pilot stablecoin-based payments for foreign visitors in South Korea. Hana framed the initiative as a way to test stablecoins’ potential as a payment solution and to deepen ties with global digital-asset providers.
Standard Chartered has repeatedly highlighted Asia’s strategic importance to its business. CEO Bill Winters described Korea as a key Asian financial hub and said the Hana tie-up strengthens the bank’s network in the region. Separate reports also indicated Standard Chartered was among at least two firms expected to seek or receive stablecoin issuer approval in Hong Kong in late March.
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