Japan FinTech Observer | Tontines | ex-Goldman & Barclays Tech MD
supervision
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) has published its annual report for the administrative year from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, providing a comprehensive (400+ pages) and transparent overview of its activities. It is intended to inform its stakeholders—including financial institutions, market participants, and the public—about the
financial literacy
ABCash Technologies is beginning a collaboration with the investment trust service "mattoco+ (Mattoco Plus)," jointly operated by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management and SmartPlus. Through this collaboration, mattoco+'s investment seminar content will be posted on ABCash's "Money Training" platform for students to view,
Tallinn
We were delighted to participate in the "ICT & FinTech Mission to Tallinn" this past week, courtesy of Enterprise Estonia. Our first stop was the e-Estonia Briefing Centre, where we were hosted by Marek Roostar, Director of Asia Region Markets, and Petra Holm, Digital Transformation Advisor. 1. Executive
mergers & acquisitions
Ambit Global Private Client, the wealth management arm of the Ambit Group - one of India’s premier financial services conglomerates, announced a landmark strategic development. Daiwa Securities Group has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a minority stake in Ambit Wealth Private Limited. This all-primary capital infusion of
tokenization
Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, together with Progmat, will commence collaboration on infrastructure development for a "Tokenized Money Management Fund" as the first step toward developing Japan's first tokenized investment trust. 1. Background for Moving to
Insurance
Manulife Financial Corporation, through its direct subsidiary The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (collectively “Manulife”), has entered into an agreement to sell MVI Life to Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Company (“Asahi Life”). MVI Life, formerly known as Aviva Vietnam, was acquired by Manulife in 2021. Since the acquisition, MVI Life has
payments
TSE-listed NETSTARS has supported QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, in successfully becoming the first bank in GCC to enable Weixin Pay e-Commerce acceptance, working closely with Darwish Holding to make this achievement possible. This ground-breaking initiative enables QNB’s e-commerce merchants to offer
security token
Nomura Holdings, Nomura Asset Management, Nomura Trust and Banking, and BOOSTRY have completed issuance procedures for the “Nomura Private Series B Dash Fund 5 Tokenized VC Fund (Transfer-Restricted)”, a private placement security token totaling approximately 8 billion yen. The Fund is Japan’s first security token to invest in venture
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred fortieth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Congratulations to the team at Wise, who became the first money transfer operator to complete integration with the Zengin interbank-settlement network. The timing could not have been better, as we are spending this week in Estonia, courtesy of
banking
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Card and Money Forward Home have decided to integrate the asset management functions of the money visualization service "Money Forward ME" into the "Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation App" provided by SMBC and the "Sumitomo Mitsui Card Vpass App"
venture capital
PitchBook has released its Global VC Ecosystem Rankings (Q4 2019 to Q3 2025), providing a data-driven look at where the world’s venture capital is flowing. While the United States continues to dominate the top charts, the data reveals a compelling story for Japan, highlighting a period of significant momentum
electricity
EnerBank, an energy tech company in the fields of renewable energy and decarbonization, has conducted a third-party allotment of new shares in its Series B round, with SMBC Venture Capital, Mizuho Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, and The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company as new underwriters. This brings the total amount of