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By Park Hyong-ki
KEB Hana Bank has joined two global consortia ― Hyperledger and Enterprise Ethereum Alliance ― that promote research and development of distributed financial ledgers through blockchain technology, the bank said Tuesday.
The two are renowned groups with more than 200 members both from the finance and technology sectors, including IBM, Intel, JP Chase Morgan and BBVA.
In April 2016, KEB Hana joined another blockchain consortium, R3 CEV, headed by R3, a U.S. blockchain software company.
This marks the first time for a local bank to join all three notable global blockchain groups, the bank said.
Samsung SDS and LG CNS, local system integrators of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, are members of Hyperledger and Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. The Korea Exchange, the stock market operator, is a Hyperledger member, and SK Telecom, the country's biggest mobile operator, is part of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.
KEB Hana has been actively joining such consortia as it is moving to launch its Global Loyalty Network (GLN) digital platform in 2019.
GLN will enable customers to make digital transactions wherever they are in the world through the decentralized and distributed system using blockchain technology.
KEB Hana said this can be realized as it expands its alliances not only with other banks but also payment gateways and retailers beyond borders through the platform.
“With partnerships with Hyperledger and Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, the bank will be able to find new business opportunities through the GLN platform and blockchain,” said Han Jun-Seong, vice president of KEB Hana Bank, in a press statement.
Hana Financial Group said the platform can be further developed and useful for customers as it integrates blockchain with cloud computing technology, which can “boost convenience and mobility.”