KEB Hana Bank Becomes First Korean Issuer on Euroclear's D-FMI With $100 Million Bond
Key points
- KEB Hana Bank issued a $100 million digitally native bond through Euroclear's D-FMI platform, becoming the first Korean company to use that infrastructure.
- The issuance sits within Hana Bank's existing $10 billion Global Medium Term Note Programme, with terms amended to support the digitally native note format.
- Standard Chartered was sole lead manager, having itself issued a bond on D-FMI less than a month prior; Citi acts as digitally native note agent and fiscal agent.
- Three other Korean issuers, Mirae Asset Securities, POSCO International, and Korea Housing Finance Corporation, completed digital bond issuances in Hong Kong earlier in 2026.
- Routing through Euroclear's international central securities depository makes the instrument broadly accessible to international investors, distinguishing this transaction from the earlier Hong Kong-based Korean digital bond activity.
KEB Hana Bank has completed a $100 million digital bond issuance through Euroclear’s D-FMI (Digital Financial Market Infrastructure) distributed ledger platform, with settlement also running through Euroclear’s international central securities depository. The transaction sits within Hana Bank’s existing $10 billion Global Medium Term Note Programme, though programme terms required updating to accommodate the digitally native note format. Pricing details have not been disclosed.
Standard Chartered acted as sole lead manager, a notable structural echo given that Standard Chartered itself placed a bond on the same platform less than a month earlier. Citi serves as both the digitally native note agent and fiscal agent, a role the US bank has taken on for other D-FMI structured product issuances during 2026.
Hana Bank is the first Korean corporate to access D-FMI, though Korean issuers have been active in digital bond markets more broadly: Mirae Asset Securities, POSCO International, and Korea Housing Finance Corporation all completed digital bond issuances in Hong Kong earlier this year. The Hana transaction extends that pattern into Euroclear’s infrastructure and, by routing through the international central securities depository, makes the paper accessible to the wider international investor base that Euroclear connectivity typically unlocks. For Korean capital markets participants, the more consequential signal may be that a domestic bank has now demonstrated a path to international digital bond markets that bypasses Hong Kong entirely.