Hana Bank issued a $100 million digital bond through Euroclear's blockchain platform, completing the transaction on the same day in a first for Korea's foreign currency bond market.
The five-year bond was issued Friday using Euroclear's Digital Financial Market Infrastructure, or D-FMI, which processes the issuance, registration and settlement of securities on a distributed ledger, the bank said Monday.
The offering achieved T+0 settlement, with bond allocations and payments completed on the issuance date. Conventional foreign currency bond transactions typically take three to five business days to settle.
The shorter settlement cycle allows issuers to receive funds sooner and streamlines the administrative process, according to Hana Bank.
The transaction marked the first time a Korean financial institution directly used the blockchain infrastructure of Euroclear, an international central securities depository, to issue a digital bond.
Hana used documentation from its existing global medium-term note program for the issuance. The D-FMI platform is linked to Euroclear's conventional settlement network, allowing institutional investors to buy and trade the bond through their existing Euroclear accounts and systems without installing separate infrastructure.
Standard Chartered was the sole lead manager, overseeing the bond's structuring, issuance and sale.
"The $100 million digital bond issuance and implementation of T+0 settlement represent a significant step beyond simply diversifying our funding channels, as they bring blockchain technology into the capital market," a Hana Bank official said. "We will continue to adopt advanced infrastructure and explore innovative funding solutions that meet the needs of global investors."
jwc@heraldcorp.com
