Woodstock has completed a sweeping overhaul of its service model, introducing 24-hour trading capability and completely eliminating transaction fees for US stocks. The announcement was made during a media briefing held in Tokyo, where Woodstock CEO Brian Yun outlined the company’s aggressive strategy to capture the burgeoning interest in
Welcome to the one hundred fifty-second edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Happy birthday to Emperor Naruhito 🎂 It's conference week again! If you would like to meet, you will most likely find us at the N.Avenue conference, the Credit Saison Blockchain Summit, the Yield Summit, and MoneyX.
Yamato Credit Finance, the financial subsidiary of the Yamato Transport group, has adopted the "Moneytree Verify" solution for its two-party factoring services. The integration marks a significant shift in the non-bank lending sector, moving away from static, paper-based credit assessments toward real-time, data-driven monitoring. Driving Digital Transformation in
Hokkoku Bank has announced the full-scale launch of integrated loan approval and execution capabilities within its proprietary "IBPlatform," marking a significant step in the regional lender’s digital transformation strategy. Moving beyond the platform's initial scope as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, the new update
In a move to accelerate digital transformation within its corporate banking division, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank (MUFG Bank) has secured an agreement with business intelligence platform Speeda, operated by Uzabase. The partnership involves the integration of Speeda’s proprietary economic data into MUFG Bank’s newly constructed "Proposal Data Lake,
After a turbulent start to the year marked by a 27-year high in bond yields, the Japanese government bond (JGB) market is beginning to stabilize as investors digest the realities of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s resounding election victory. According to a new report from Sony Financial Group, the market
SBI Securities has announced the upcoming sale of SBI Holdings’ inaugural security token (ST) bond, a landmark issuance valued at 10 billion yen. Dubbed the "SBI START Bond," the offering represents the very first asset to be traded on the "START" proprietary trading system (PTS) operated
For this article, we have applied the recently updated "Preparation Guidebook for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs)", published by the Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA), to generate an IPO-grade corporate governance policy framework that startups need to complete before conducting an accounting audit. 1. The Strategic Mandate:
Sompo Holdings delivered a robust set of third-quarter results for fiscal year 2025, posting a sharp increase in profitability driven by improved underwriting margins in its domestic property and casualty (P&C) business and sustained growth in overseas operations. Buoyed by lower-than-expected natural catastrophe losses and strong investment returns,
The intersection of generative artificial intelligence and highly regulated financial services represents one of the most critical and heavily contested growth vectors in the contemporary global enterprise software market. Within this rapidly evolving paradigm, OdysseyAI, a specialized technology enterprise established in 2024 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, has emerged as
HiJoJo Partners, an independent asset management firm specializing in democratizing access to global unicorn investments for Japanese investors, has completed its Series B1 funding round. The firm raised approximately 1 billion yen via a third-party allotment, bringing its cumulative equity financing since inception to roughly 2.8 billion yen. This
Link Processing, a subsidiary of Infcurion, has entered a business alliance with credit card issuer Epos Card to address the liquidity constraints and digital stagnation facing Japan’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The partnership will offer a "Corporate Invoice Card Payment" service to Epos Card’s corporate
artificial intelligence
The release of the 4th annual Alternative Data Factbook, produced by the Japan Alternative Data Accelerator Association (JADAA) and SOMPO Institute Plus, confirms that the market has successfully navigated its initial volatility. Survey participants have moved decisively past the "pandemic surge"—a period characterized by reactive, uncritical data
Economics
According to data provided in the Tokyo Shoko Research (TSR) report for January 2026, Japanese corporate insolvencies began 2026 on a turbulent note. The total number of bankruptcies in January surged to 887 cases, marking a 5.59% year-on-year increase and the highest level for the month since 2013. While
bitcoin
In a sharp rebuke aimed at anonymous detractors, Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich has issued a comprehensive defense of the company’s Bitcoin accumulation strategy and corporate governance, rejecting claims of opaque disclosure as "inflammatory and factually incorrect." Addressing a wave of recent online criticism, Gerovich emphasized that while
venture capital
NTT DOCOMO Ventures (NDV), the investment arm of Japan’s leading mobile operator, has made a strategic investment in Bastion Platforms, a New York-based provider of regulated stablecoin infrastructure. The deal signals the telecommunications giant's deepening interest in integrating digital asset technologies into enterprise finance and consumer payments.
Economics
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has signaled strong support for the Bank of Japan’s ongoing policy normalization, forecasting a path toward a neutral interest rate of 1.5% by 2027, while simultaneously warning Tokyo against eroding fiscal discipline through broad tax cuts. In a press briefing following the 2026
artificial intelligence
SIGQ, a developer of autonomous AI solutions for IT operations, has raised a total of 123 million yen (approx. USD $820,000) in the first close of its Pre-Series A funding round. The financing will accelerate the Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy for its flagship product, "Incident Lake," specifically targeting
entertainment
Nudge, the Tokyo-based challenger in the credit card and FinTech space, has convened the inaugural meeting of the "Entertainment x Fintech Consortium," marking a significant step toward integrating financial infrastructure with the entertainment sector. The kickoff event gathered 36 leading companies, exceeding the organizer's initial recruitment
stablecoins
A consortium led by Digital Garage (DG), alongside payment heavyweight JCB and Resona Holdings, announced the commencement of a proof-of-concept (PoC) for stablecoin payments in physical stores, a move towards bridging decentralized finance (DeFi) with traditional retail infrastructure. Starting February 24, 2026, the pilot program will test the viability of
tokenization
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) has authorized a landmark pilot program involving the country’s top five financial institutions. The initiative, part of the FSA's "Payment Innovation Project" (PIP), aims to test the viability of blockchain technology for the settlement of traditional book-entry securities, including government
security token
SBI Digital Markets (SBIDM) has cemented its foothold in the burgeoning sector of Real-World Asset (RWA) securitization, announcing the successful closure of Asia's largest music Intellectual Property (IP) deal for 2025. The transaction, valued at US$30 million, involves the issuance of bonds backed by a new music
venture capital
Yuimedi, a health-tech startup specializing in the standardization and utilization of medical data, has raised 400 million yen (approx. $2.6 million) in a fresh funding round. The capital injection is aimed at accelerating the deployment of its AI-driven data infrastructure and expanding its footprint in both the Japanese and
artificial intelligence
Rakuten Group and its FinTech subsidiary, Rakuten Card, have announced the integration of a proprietary AI agent into the Rakuten Card Lite app, effective today. The launch marks the latest step in the company’s "AI-nization" initiative, a strategic push to embed artificial intelligence across its business portfolio