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Japan FinTech Observer #131

Norbert Gehrke

Norbert Gehrke

— 10 min read
Japan FinTech Observer #131

Welcome to the one hundred thirty-first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer.

We tried to have the publication of our weekly report co-incide with quarter-end (at least that is this week's excuse), and follow the first two trading days of the spun-out Sony Financial. After an indicative price on Friday of around 150 yen, which set the permissible trading range for Monday, the stock reached a high of 206 yen during the morning session, and has been fallen ever since, closing Tuesday at 164 yen. If you need a life insurance company (because that's what Sony Financial mostly is) to balance your portfolio, here is an opportunity. We will stick to our report from 2021, aptly titled "Sony Financial: free of activists, void of strategy."

Orion Breweries, Okinawa's favorite beer, was brought to market by Carlyle last week, and has fared much better. Check out the chart!

Lastly, the Japan FinTech Observer has reached 14,000+ subscribers on the LinkedIn platform alone (add a few thousands more for Medium, Substack and our own website). We always appreciate your spending time with us, thank you!

Here is what we are going to cover this week:

  • Venture Capital & Private Markets: GMO Venture Partners have invested in Crossmint alongside Circle and other investors; FormX has completed a seed round funding of 130 million yen in total, with Genesia Ventures as the lead investor; ASUENE has completed an equity transfer of a 49% stake in ASUENE America Holdings to the Fund Corporation for the Overseas Development of Japan’s ICT and Postal Services (JICT)
  • Insurance: Tokio Marine Holdings (TMHD) has initiated a strategic collaboration with OpenAI; Softbank-backed Ethos has filed for an IPO in the US
  • Banking: SBI Sumishin Net Bank becomes "d NEOBANK" after aquisition by NTT DOCOMO; Seven Bank is entering into a capital and business alliance with ITOCHU, and deploying its ATMs in FamilyMarts across the country; CIC, a designated credit information agency, will resume on October 9; SC Ventures by Standard Chartered Bank, together with Fujitsu, are set to join forces to incubate a quantum computing development platform
  • Payments: Digital Garage has launched global services for "AppPay," Japan's No. 1 off-app billing platform
  • Capital Markets: Japan Exchange Group has upgraded its consolidated earnings forecast; the Tokyo Stock Exchange has selected 20 companies as the 2025 Supported Companies of the TSE Asia Startup Hub;
  • Asset Management: Morgan Stanley expressed the view that the Japanese wealth management business is a growth area that can increase the profitability and earnings stability of financial institutions; Heiwa Real Estate will open FinGATE SAPPORO in IKEUCHI LAB, the first FinGATE facility in Sapporo
  • Digital Assets: SBI Securities, Shinsei Trust & Banking, Tokio Marine Asset Management, and BOOSTRY have jointly developed Japan's first public offering scheme for security tokens of specified beneficial interest-issuing trusts that realize PE investment; SBI Digital Markets has successfully launched its first tranche of luxury wine structured notes in Korea and Thailand; Nonagon Capital has launched support services for major domestic companies to begin validator operations
  • The Last Word: Increasing Global Economic Profit

Venture Capital & Private Markets

  • Amid the rise of “agent commerce,” GMO Venture Partners have invested in Crossmint alongside Circle and other investors; Crossmint provides infrastructure that enables seamless integration of payments and remittances across both fiat currencies and stablecoins; Crossmint offers a unified API and wallet SDK that bridges fiat and stablecoins, allowing enterprises and AI agents to implement payments and transfers with ease; GMO Venture Partners believe removing the need to grapple with blockchain complexity is a critical factor in driving seamless adoption of wallets by enterprises and end users alike
  • FormX has completed a seed round funding of 130 million yen in total; the lead investor is Genesia Ventures, with additional participation from Chiba Dojo Fund and multiple CFO angel investors; this funding will accelerate the development of its "Disclosure Platform" and strengthen its organizational foundation; FormX was founded in 2023 to solve disclosure-related challenges typically experienced at listed companies, IPO preparation companies, and audit firms; currently, FormX is conducting proof of concepts with six listed companies and three unlisted companies
  • ASUENE has completed an equity transfer of a 49% stake in ASUENE America Holdings to the Fund Corporation for the Overseas Development of Japan’s ICT and Postal Services (JICT), officially launching a new co-investment partnership; this partnership officially establishes a joint investment framework between ASUENE and JICT, enabling ASUENE to fully commit to supporting the growth of U.S.-based climate tech company NZero; the two organizations will deepen their collaboration to accelerate the global expansion of startups in the decarbonization and climate tech sectors across the U.S., Europe, and Asia

Insurance

  • Tokio Marine Holdings (TMHD) has initiated a strategic collaboration with OpenAI, aiming to leverage generative AI technologies for the evolution of its business; TMHD aims to further integrate generative AI into various operational areas of Tokio Marine group, including contracts, inquiries, and document processing; this will help to enhance productivity and advance business operations, with the future goal of integrating of AI agents into its operational foundation to help to enhance the customers’ experience
  • Ethos Technologies recorded a 55% jump in revenue in the first half of 2025, according to its U.S. initial public offering paperwork filed on Friday, as the insurance IPO market continues its hot streak; the San Francisco, California-based life-insurance platform is the latest insurer seeking to tap the new listings market, with nearly half a dozen peers going public in New York since May; in 2021, Ethos raised $100 million from Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank at a $2.7 billion valuation

Banking

  • SBI Sumishin Net Bank becomes "d NEOBANK" after aquisition by NTT DOCOMO: SBI Sumishin Net Bank will become a consolidated subsidiary of NTT DOCOMO as of October 1st, 2025; following the consolidation, starting on the same date, the service will be rebranded as “d NEOBANK”, which is representing the wide range of services directly provided by SSNB to both individual and corporate clients; d NEOBANK aims to provide more convenient and rewarding financial services to its clients by integrating SSNB services, such as bank accounts, with DOCOMO services including “d Payment®”, “d POINT”, and “d CARD®”; with the launch of the new service brand “d NEOBANK”, the bank will further strengthen its collaboration with DOCOMO and with its existing shareholder, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank
  • Seven Bank is entering into a capital and business alliance with ITOCHU to adapt to a changing financial landscape (digital payments, new competition) and drive new growth; the goal is to combine Seven Bank's expertise in ATMs and retail financial services with ITOCHU's vast consumer-related business platforms to create new financial services and enhance the corporate value of both companies; the immediate and most significant initiative is the agreement to begin installing Seven Bank ATMs in FamilyMart convenience stores, which are operated by a subsidiary of ITOCHU; the companies will also engage in discussions for further collaboration on credit cards, payment services, and other financial businesses
  • CIC, a designated credit information agency, will resume on October 9 by adding an identity verification function using My Number Cards to the credit information disclosure service via the Internet, which was suspended due to spoofing, and raising the fee to 1,500 yen; it was found that a third party may have impersonated the person himself and requested disclosure, and it was suspended from April 28; spoofing will be prevented by adding Myna Card authentication, and the fee will be tripled from the previous 500 yen; a new smartphone app "Myna Pocket" (developed by NTT DATA) that allows online identity verification has been introduced
  • SC Ventures by Standard Chartered Bank, together with Fujitsu, are set to join forces to incubate Project Quanta; the project will integrate multiple software and hardware technologies to provide clients a platform to rapidly explore, develop and integrate quantum computing and quantum-inspired applications; in this platform, in addition to the development environment, it provides pre-built algorithms in areas such as fraud detection, risk simulations, derivative pricing, and credit decision, enabling users to develop their own algorithms; the platform will also provide access to data and backend hardware, allowing users to test their algorithms
  • VinFast has secured a USD 100 million Green Loan facility from MUFG Bank, to be used for VinFast's development and international expansion strategy; the loan marks the beginning of a long-term relationship between the parties, demonstrative of the commitment of both VinFast and MUFG to advance the green transition in Vietnam and globally; the USD 100 million credit facility is structured as a green loan; under this arrangement, the loan proceeds will be used to support VinFast’s development and expansion as a pure-electric vehicle company

Payments

  • Digital Garage has launched global services for "AppPay," Japan's No. 1 off-app billing platform that the company has been providing since 2023; this service provides Merchant of Record (MoR) functionality, where Digital Garage acts as the legal sales entity on behalf of game and app operators in countries around the world; it offers one-stop services for complex and diverse operations including legal compliance for sales in each country/region, payment processing, tax filing, and refund management, enabling global off-app billing payments

Capital Markets

  • Japan Exchange Group has decided to revise its consolidated earnings forecast and dividend forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026: operating revenue up 8.7%; operating income up 15.8%; net income up 16.7% versus prior forecast; annual dividend forecast up to JPY 50 from JPY 43
  • The Tokyo Stock Exchange has selected 20 companies as the 2025 Supported Companies of the TSE Asia Startup Hub, including seven newly selected companies and 13 re-selected companies; the seven newly selected Supported Companies are based in one of the five following countries/regions: Singapore, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, or the Philippines; they include companies targeting the Japanese market in sectors such as cosmetics, agritech, and mental health care, as well as fintech companies expected to grow by leveraging Asia's economic expansion; this is the first time a company based in the Philippines has been selected
  • Ecosystem Builders: Bank & Securities Account Linkage at Rakuten; Rakuten Bank's and Rakuten Securities' Money Bridge service, connecting customers’ Rakuten Bank and Rakuten Securities accounts, has surpassed 6 million accounts as of September 2025; Rakuten Bank surpassed 17 million accounts at the end of May 2025, solidifying its position as Japan's largest digital bank, and Rakuten Securities surpassed 12.5 million general securities customer accounts at the end of June 2025, marking the largest number of non-consolidated securities accounts (based on disclosed information) among Japanese securities companies
  • Nomura has published "Japan’s Normalization Gambit"; the Bank of Japan maintains its cautious policy normalization with the policy rate at 0.50%, while markets anticipate further tightening; post-yield curve control, rates have been rising naturally, creating a new investment landscape marked by political shifts and reform-driven equity opportunities amid yen volatility

Asset Management

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Weightings of household financial assets
  • Long-Term Structural Shift from Savings to Investment Progressing: in its latest asset & wealth management report, Morgan Stanley expressed the view that the Japanese wealth management business is a growth area that can increase the profitability and earnings stability of financial institutions; amid rapid changes in the macroeconomic outlook, the increasing spread of new solutions along with tech advances, and growing market visibility, customer demand in the wealth/asset management industry is changing quickly; in addition, inflation is a pressure in Japan causing investors to turn their attention to asset formation & diversification, and amid these varied changes, the Morgan Stanley analysts expect the wealth/asset management business to allow companies aiming for future growth to build up their position speedily and obtain multiple growth
  • Heiwa Real Estate will open FinGATE SAPPORO in IKEUCHI LAB, the first FinGATE facility in Sapporo, on Monday, October 20, 2025; at FinGATE SAPPORO in IKEUCHI LAB, Heiwa Real Estate will draw on the financial hub operational experience and knowhow it has cultivated since 2017 in the Nihonbashi Kabutocho and Kayabacho district of Tokyo to attract global financial companies to Hokkaido and Sapporo; the hub will also help Japan’s financial services industry become more diverse and sophisticated by strengthening the exchange of “People, Information, and Capital” between Tokyo and Sapporo

Digital Assets

The Last Word: Increasing Global Economic Profit

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Source: McKinsey & Company

Between the start of 2010 and the end of 2024, roughly 63% of global economic profit was attributed to the "Magnificent Seven". There had been no growth outside North America and mainland China.

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