Shinhan Financial Group is reducing borrowing costs for customers with high-interest household loans while preparing payment infrastructure based on stablecoins and artificial intelligence. The two initiatives form a dual-track strategy that supports vulnerable borrowers within the existing financial system and prepares the group for longer-term changes in payments and settlement.
Shinhan Bank said on August 26 that it would extend for another year a programme lowering interest rates above 9.8% on eligible household loans to 9.8%. On the same day, Shinhan Financial announced a strategic agreement with Visa covering stablecoins, AI-enabled payments and business-to-business transactions.
The interest-rate measure addresses the immediate impact of high borrowing costs on households. The Visa partnership, by comparison, prepares Shinhan for a payment market in which the boundaries between banking, cards and digital assets are becoming less distinct. Together, they place financial inclusion and digital infrastructure within the same group-level strategy.
Automatic rate reductions for 28,411 loans
The programme covers customers who held household loans carrying interest rates above 9.8% as of July 2026 and had at least three months remaining before maturity. Rates will be lowered automatically to 9.8%, without a separate application.
The reduced rate will apply until the loan matures, subject to a maximum support period of one year when the remaining maturity exceeds 12 months. Shinhan estimates that the measure will cover 28,411 loans with a combined outstanding balance of approximately 311.4 billion won. Existing contractual and overdue interest charges will apply if a loan becomes delinquent during the support period.
The measure extends Shinhan Financial’s “Help-up & Value-up” programme, introduced in 2025. Rather than expanding lending indiscriminately, it targets borrowers already carrying exceptionally high financing costs and adjusts their existing loan terms without requiring another application or credit review.
Capping interest at 9.8% does not eliminate borrowers’ underlying repayment risk. Reducing financing costs before delinquency occurs, however, may lower the likelihood that financially vulnerable customers turn to non-bank lenders or short-term, higher-cost credit. It can also help the bank limit a subsequent deterioration in asset quality, aligning customer support with credit-risk management over the loan’s life cycle.
Shinhan Bank also launched its Super SOL Mid-Rate Loan on August 21 for customers in the lower 50% of external credit scores. The product offers up to 20 million won per borrower and uses Shinhan’s alternative credit assessment model to evaluate applicants with limited financial histories, including young workers and homemakers.
The rate reduction provides relief to existing high-interest borrowers, while alternative credit assessment helps identify underserved customers before a lending decision is made. Used together, the two mechanisms could broaden access to credit while allowing the bank to manage risk through more detailed data.
Testing issuance, settlement and transfers through Visa
In future payments, Shinhan Financial signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Visa at its Seoul headquarters on August 24. The companies will explore stablecoin applications, AI-enabled payment models, and expanded B2B and business-to-consumer payment services by combining Visa’s global network with Shinhan’s banking and card operations.
The partnership centres on the Visa Stablecoin Platform, or VSP, introduced in July. The enterprise platform is designed to allow financial institutions and fintech companies to manage stablecoin issuance, redemption, custody, transfers and treasury operations within a single environment.
Shinhan plans to use VSP to design models suited to South Korea’s financial system and examine potential applications in card settlement and corporate transactions. The earliest practical uses are more likely to emerge in card settlement, cross-border transfers, business payments and liquidity management than in direct consumer payments.
Visa has already enabled selected US banks to settle card obligations in USDC over the Solana blockchain. The structure allows funds to move between financial institutions on weekends and public holidays without changing the way consumers use their cards.
Shinhan’s approach therefore appears to treat stablecoins less as a separate crypto product and more as a possible back-end layer for existing accounts, cards and corporate treasury operations. This would allow the group to test blockchain-based settlement while retaining the compliance, customer-protection and risk controls of regulated finance.
The agreement remains at the technology and business-model testing stage rather than representing a commercial launch. Wider adoption will depend on South Korea establishing clearer rules for issuers, reserve assets, consumer protection, accounting and foreign-exchange treatment. Shinhan will also need to define responsibilities across Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card and Jeju Bank.
Reducing today’s borrowing costs and tomorrow’s payment friction
The two initiatives share a focus on reducing financial friction. The household-loan programme lowers the interest costs borne by customers, while stablecoin infrastructure could shorten the time and processes required to move money between financial institutions and businesses.
Shinhan’s experience in credit assessment, anti-money-laundering controls, card settlement and consumer protection could become an important foundation for connecting digital assets with regulated finance. The competitiveness of stablecoins and AI payments will depend not only on the underlying technology, but also on how effectively established financial safeguards are applied to new payment rails.
The next step is to demonstrate measurable results. For the loan programme, the relevant indicators will include actual interest savings and delinquency prevention. For the stablecoin tests, they will include settlement speed, transaction costs, liquidity efficiency and regulatory compliance.
If these outcomes can be established, the two initiatives could develop beyond a temporary relief measure and a technology experiment. Together, they would represent a broader financial infrastructure strategy that combines inclusion for existing customers with greater efficiency in the next generation of payments.
