INTERVIEW NH NongHyup Bank's exceptional financial services and openness attract global partnership: Fireblocks APAC head

Fireblocks APAC head Amy Zhang / Courtesy of Fireblocks

By Lee Kyung-min

• Published Feb 1, 2025 9:09 AM KST
• Updated Feb 2, 2025 9:47 AM KST

A joint partnership between NH NongHyup Bank, a leading Korean commercial lender, and Fireblocks, a New York-headquartered digital infrastructure firm, on a blockchain-mediated tax refund program is an excellent opportunity to advance digital assets markets in the traditional banking services, the Asia-Pacific head of the U.S firm said –day.

The initiative is the latest illustration of significant progress, according to Fireblocks APAC head Amy Zhang, as Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore are at the forefront of innovation and therefore ideal jurisdictions for pioneering new use cases.

A growing number of similar growth opportunities will spur entities such as NH NongHyup and Fireblocks to catch up with early industry movers including BNY Mellon and BlackRock in the U.S. and BNP Paribas and ABN Amro in Europe. The global industry leaders are setting the pace, especially in the areas of tokenizing real-world assets.

“NH Bank's focus on delivering exceptional financial services and their openness to exploring digital assets presented an excellent opportunity for collaboration,” Zhang said in an interview with The Korea Times.

Blockchain can improve tax refunds, long handled by traditional banking sectors, significantly reducing processing times, improving transparency and minimizing fraud, in her view.

For example, integrating blockchain into tax refund processes ensures a seamless flow of data between merchants, banks and customers, eliminating inefficiencies and errors inherent in traditional systems.

The two signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Nov. 11 to explore business models using blockchain technology, as part of efforts to strengthen cooperation in the digital asset sector.

Included are the tax refund system whereby outbound travelers are refunded any value-added tax or goods and services tax if they had purchased goods at designated duty free stores.

Tokenization engine

Integrating the system is Fireblocks’ tokenization engine that provides secure issuance, management and transfer of tokenized assets.

It utilizes advanced multi-party computation technology to safeguard digital assets throughout their lifecycle.

It also leverages Fireblocks’ robust and flexible policy control to manage different tokenization activities.

“The engine will create digital representations of eligible tax refunds for NH Bank,” she said.

“These tokenized assets can be automatically issued and tracked on a blockchain, streamlining the refund process for both merchants and customers. It will integrate seamlessly with NH Bank’s existing systems, ensuring customers can redeem their refunds quickly and securely.”

Challenges

Adopting blockchain involves challenges, including regulatory clarity, complex technological integration and the need for user education.

Fireblocks tackles these issues by offering compliance-ready infrastructure aligned with global regulations, enterprise-grade wallet technology and robust cybersecurity measures.

“We provide tailored onboarding with hands-on training and support to ensure financial institutions transition smoothly to blockchain adoption. This comprehensive approach streamlines integration while fostering secure and scalable innovation. For NH, Fireblocks ensures that blockchain technology is integrated without disrupting their existing services or compromising customer trust," she said.

Security is critical when integrating digital assets into banking, with key priorities including protection from cyberattacks, secure custody and transaction integrity, she added.

“Fireblocks addresses these challenges using best-in-class technology to eliminate single points of failure, ISO-compliant protocols paired with robust policy governance to safeguard assets in storage and transit," she said. "This comprehensive approach ensures robust protection and compliance, enabling institutions to adopt digital assets with confidence.”

Tokenizing real-world assets

BlackRock’s decision to launch a tokenized fund, working with BNY Mellon and Fireblocks among others, is a prime example of tokenizing real-world assets, an industry-wide trend, she said.

“We are also very invested in the payments space to support digitized money transfers across merchants and financial institutions,” she said.

“We see stablecoins and tokenized deposits to be the default messaging layer for two institutions to transfer values. These institutions will be wallets that are purpose-built for the payments use case and leverage highly scalable wallet infrastructure to support their use case.”

Asia-Pacific, future goals

APAC is a strategic priority for Fireblocks due to the rapid adoption of digital assets and blockchain technology in the region, she said.

“We have invested significant resources in APAC with local offices in Singapore, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong supporting over 300 customers regionally,” she said.

Fireblocks’ mission is to enable every business to easily and securely support digital assets, with a goal to become a key ecosystem player and the infrastructure provider of choice for organizations in the financial, payments and Web3 space looking to securely scale their digital asset operations.

“Simply put, our role in the next decade is to eliminate the challenges related to adopting blockchains and digital assets so that every company is able to interact with this innovative technology and deliver value to their business,” she said.