Shinhan Financial Group

Visa is expanding its stablecoin infrastructure in Asia, announcing exploratory talks with Dunamu, operator of Korea's Upbit exchange, and a memorandum of understanding with Shinhan Financial Group, a $100 billion AUM institution. The Dunamu partnership, revealed at Visa's San Francisco headquarters, covers stablecoin payments, cross-border remittances, and AI-driven agentic commerce, but no timelines or specific stablecoins have been finalized. This follows Visa's BLOOM pilot in Singapore and its involvement in the OUSD consortium, which includes Mastercard, BlackRock, and Stripe but excludes Circle and Tether. Upbit holds a 71.6% market share in Korea, and Samsung's $446 million investment for a 4% stake in Dunamu adds industrial backing. Regulatory uncertainty persists, as Korea lacks a formal Payment Services Act, though a tokenized deposit pilot is planned for Q4 2026.

Shinhan Asset Management, one of South Korea's largest financial institutions, announced the signing of a four-party memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation, Etherfuse, and Orca to prove the concept of issuing and distributing a tokenized fund denominated in South Korean won. Modeled on BlackRock's BUIDL fund, it will allow foreign institutional investors to purchase an ultra-short-term bond fund denominated in won and managed by Shinhan, with the underlying assets converted into tokens. The collaboration comes after South Korea's parliament passed a framework law on security token offerings in January, which will take effect in February 2027 and has prompted several financial giants to prepare tokenized securities services. Shinhan Asset Management had approximately 133.6 trillion won, or 96.6 billion US dollars, in assets under management as of August 2026.

Shinhan Financial reported second-quarter non-GAAP earnings per share of ₩3750, with revenue of ₩25.06 trillion, up from ₩23.22 trillion a year earlier. Net interest income for the quarter reached ₩3.13 trillion. The company also approved a ₩700 billion share buyback and cancellation plan.

Shinhan Bank has chosen StoneX Payments as a strategic partner for cross-border payments and foreign exchange services. The South Korean bank will integrate StoneX Payments' platform, which provides institutional-grade execution, emerging-market expertise, and transparent pricing across more than 140 currencies and 180 countries. Shinhan Bank serves approximately 29 million customers and will gain access to StoneX Payments' proprietary network of over 385 banks, designed for high-volume, complex cross-border flows. The partnership, effective immediately, will be rolled out in phases over the coming months, offering Shinhan Bank's clients lower transaction costs, faster settlement, and access to hard-to-reach currency corridors.

South Korean flag carrier HMM is pausing finalization of orders for at least 10 additional 13,000-TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships planned for the second half of 2026, instead tilting toward energy transportation with a focus on Suezmax tankers, medium-range petroleum tankers, very large gas carriers, and LNG carriers. The world's eighth-largest liner, with a fleet capacity of 1.01 to 1.03 million container units across roughly 70 to 97 vessels, cited growing market uncertainties from newbuild-driven oversupply, Middle East crisis costs, and U.S. tariff policies. HMM posted 2025 revenue of $7.5 to $7.7 billion, down about 7% to 9.5% year-on-year, and has recent orders exceeding $1 billion for eight bulk carriers and two gas carriers with deliveries through 2031, plus a resale contract for four very large crude carriers. A Shinhan Investment & Securities forecast for the second quarter of 2026 pegs revenue at $2.21 billion, up 25% year-on-year, with operating profit of $291.8 million, up 80.4%, while the full-year 2026 outlook was revised upward to $8.9 billion in revenue and $1.2 billion in operating profit.

Shinhan Financial Group reported higher net income for the second quarter of 2026 despite lower sales. Net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company increased to KRW 1.82 trillion from KRW 1.62 trillion in the previous year. Operating income declined to KRW 2.48 trillion from KRW 2.15 trillion a year earlier. Sales decreased to KRW 25.06 trillion from KRW 28.49 trillion in the prior year.

Digital Asset, the developer of the Canton blockchain network, has raised an additional $10 million, bringing in South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group and Standard Chartered's SC Ventures as strategic investors. This expands the total funding round announced in June from $355 million to $365 million, with the equity valuation unchanged at $2 billion. The initial round was led by a16z crypto, with participation from HSBC, BNP Paribas, and SBI Group. The Canton network is the only public layer-1 blockchain with privacy features for institutional investors, and this investment is expected to drive greater institutional adoption in Asia.