Japan FinTech Observer | Tontines | ex-Goldman & Barclays Tech MD
artificial intelligence
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and its consolidated subsidiary, MUFG Bank, have entered into an investment agreement and signed a memorandum of understanding regarding strategic collaboration with Third Intelligence, an AI R&D company. Other investors are SMBC, SBI Group, and Hokuhodo DY Ventures. Third Intelligence is a company
corporate venture capital
DeNA's Board of Directors has approved the establishment of and investment in the Delight Ventures Builder III Investment Limited Partnership (ILP). Background DeNA is an “eternal venture,” and proactively takes on the challenge of creating new businesses. To achieve this, in addition to initiatives in each of its
banking
Okasan Securities has begun providing services for corporate customers through "Okasan BANK," a banking service jointly developed with GMO Aozora Net Bank. The corporate services of "Okasan BANK" offer special interest rate time deposits, free deposit functions to Okasan Securities accounts, corporate Okasan BANK cards with
private equity
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and ORIX Corporation have entered into an agreement to launch a commitment-based private equity fund. The total fund size will be the yen equivalent of USD 2.5 billion. The fund will invest in Japanese companies, primarily targeting business succession, privatization of listed companies, and
blockchain
Startale Group has announced the Startale App, an all-in-one gateway to the Startale and Soneium ecosystem, designed to make the open digital economy simple, secure, and connected. Built as part of a continued partnership with Sony Block Solutions Labs, the app marks the beginning of a new chapter in Startale’
stablecoin
HashPort has signed a capital and business alliance agreement with KDDI. Under this alliance, HashPort conducted a third-party allotment capital increase to KDDI. As a result, KDDI acquired more than 20% of HashPort's issued shares, making HashPort an equity-method affiliate of KDDI. Going forward, both companies will leverage
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred thirty-seventh edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The convergence is happening. The Financial System Council Working Group on Crypto-Assets has come to the conclusion that forcing crypto investments into the Payment Services Act, and is working on an approach to migrate the relevant parts to
crypto
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) hosted the 5th Meeting of the Financial System Council Working Group on Crypto-Assets on November 7, 2025. The meeting focused on consolidating previous discussions and presenting specific proposals for regulatory reforms concerning crypto assets in Japan, particularly addressing the shift of crypto assets towards investment
sustainability
The 11th Annual Conference of the Principles, co-hosted by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the Japan Securities Dealers Association (JSDA) in Tokyo, brought together key stakeholders to discuss the future of sustainable finance, with a strong focus on transition and nature-related financing. Here are our key takeaways from
payments
Infcurion's next-generation card issuance platform "Xard" has been adopted by Money Forward for the handling of ETC cards in "Money Forward Business Card." Money Forward, with its mission "Move Money Forward. Move Life More Forward," has been deploying "Money Forward Business
payments
Stripe and NEC have begun exploring integration of the Stripe Reader S700 payment terminal, compatible with the unified commerce solution Stripe Terminal, with NEC's face recognition payment service. By combining Stripe's payment terminals, payment services, and functions with NEC's face recognition technology, which boasts
Economics
The Itochu Research Institute's Associate Senior Research Fellow Sota Takano put out a new research note last week, analyzing the most recent monthly labor survey. Nominal Wage Growth Accelerates, but Real Wages Remain Negative In September, the growth rate of total cash earnings was +1.9% year-on-year, accelerating