South Korean Hana Bank leverages Euroclear's blockchain technology for $100M digital bond issue
The digital bond with a five-year maturity period successfully reduced settlement time from a typical three-to-five business day window down to same-day completion through Euroclear's blockchain technology.
Hana Bank, based in South Korea, has completed the issuance of a digital bond worth $100 million with a five-year term by utilizing Euroclear's platform powered by blockchain technology, according to reports.
Yonhap News Agency disclosed on Monday that the financial institution leveraged Euroclear's Digital Financial Market Infrastructure for issuing the foreign-currency denominated bond. The news outlet characterized the deal as South Korea's inaugural digital bond offering that directly utilized the blockchain infrastructure provided by Euroclear.
As stated by Yonhap, the entire process encompassing the bond's issuance, registration, and settlement was completed through a distributed ledger network. The utilization of this technology for managing bond allocation and facilitating payment settlement successfully compressed the timeline from a conventional three to five business days down to same-day completion, according to the report.
Additionally, the bond maintains connectivity with Euroclear's established global settlement network, which enables investors to conduct trades using their current accounts and existing trading systems, as Yonhap detailed in its coverage.
Attempts by Cointelegraph to contact Hana Bank for additional commentary were unsuccessful, and Euroclear did not provide a response to Cointelegraph's inquiry for comment prior to the time of publication.
Euroclear introduced its Digital Securities Issuance service in October 2023, completing the settlement of a 100 million euro digital bond ($106 million based on exchange rates at that time) that was issued by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which serves as the World Bank's lending division. The three-year maturity bond was designed to generate capital for sustainable development initiatives and received a listing on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.