Kookmin Bank, South Korea's largest bank both by asset value and market capitalisation, started sending and receiving STEP1 payments through its London subsidiary on 6th June 2011. STEP1 is EBA CLEARING's service for individual commercial payments in euro, which is geared at financial institutions with a limited euro payments business.

"Connecting to STEP1 has put us in a position to directly exchange euro transactions with all major players operating in Europe through one single and very cost-effective channel," said Ki Hong Kim, Managing Director, Kookmin Bank International Ltd. "The reach of the EURO1/STEP1 platform will help us to further expand our euro payments business. At the same time, this one-channel approach will enable us to significantly streamline our underlying processes."

"We have been very pleased to welcome Kookmin Bank as a new STEP1 Bank and as our first participant from South Korea," commented Alan Taylor, Director, EURO1/STEP1 Services. "After 10 years of operation, STEP1 continues to be very attractive for banks with a limited euro payments business. The connection of Kookmin Bank as well as the joining of BNY Mellon in March attest to the particular value the service holds for non-European banks that have offices in the EU."

The new participant brings the number of STEP1 Banks to 94. At present, 263 banks in Europe (corresponding to almost 10,000 BICs) send and receive single payments via the EURO1/STEP1 platform. With the help of the EURO1/STEP1 Directory, user banks can address more than 30,000 BICs across the world.