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- South Korea’s Hana Bank issued a $100 million five-year digital bond through Euroclear’s blockchain-based infrastructure with same-day settlement.
- The Sept. 18 transaction utilized Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure to reduce the traditional settlement cycle from up to five days to T+0.
- Hana’s transaction marks the first digital bond from a South Korean financial institution issued directly through Euroclear’s proprietary blockchain infrastructure.
South Korea’s Hana Bank has issued a $100 million five-year digital bond through Euroclear’s blockchain-based infrastructure, completing allocation and cash settlement on the same day.
The Sept. 18 transaction used Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure, or D-FMI. Hana described it as the first digital bond from a South Korean financial institution issued directly through Euroclear’s proprietary blockchain infrastructure and the country’s first T+0 settlement for a foreign-currency bond.
D-FMI Cuts Settlement From Up to Five Days to T+0
Traditional foreign-currency bond issuance in South Korea can require three to five business days between pricing and completion of settlement. Hana used distributed ledger technology to process the bond’s issuance, registration, allocation, and payment settlement on the issue date, reducing the cycle to T+0.
The bond was issued under Hana’s existing Global Medium Term Note program. Standard Chartered acted as sole lead manager, handling the transaction from structuring through issuance and distribution.
Investors Can Use Existing Euroclear Accounts and Trading Systems
Euroclear’s D-FMI supports digitally native notes issued directly on distributed ledger infrastructure. Its Digital Securities Issuance service covers issuance, distribution and primary-market settlement of fully dematerialized international securities.
Hana’s transaction remains connected to Euroclear’s established settlement network. The bank said institutional investors can use existing Euroclear accounts and trading systems rather than adopting a separate blockchain platform.
That structure gives Hana blockchain-based issuance and same-day settlement while retaining access to existing institutional market infrastructure.
Hana Follows KB Kookmin With Separate $100M Digital Bond Milestone
Hana is not the first South Korean bank to issue a blockchain-based foreign-currency bond. KB Kookmin Bank issued a separate $100 million, two-year digital bond through HSBC’s Orion platform in June, becoming the first South Korean bank to use blockchain technology for foreign-currency bond financing.
Hana’s milestone is narrower: its bond is the first from a South Korean financial institution issued directly through Euroclear’s D-FMI and the first domestic foreign-currency bond issuance to complete settlement on T+0.
