Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred forty-second edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The week commencing December 15 will very much be the last week of significant business activity for the calendar year. The Diet will have its last session, and the Bank of Japan will raise the policy rate to
robo advisor
The "ROBOPRO Fund", established on December 28, 2023 by SBI Okasan Asset Management, surpassed 200 billion yen in net assets on December 9, 2025. This milestone was reached approximately 3.5 months after surpassing 100 billion yen in net assets on August 22 of this year. The Fund
regulation
This article synthesizes the key discussion points, directives, and strategic priorities communicated by Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) during its October 2025 meetings with various financial industry associations. The purpose of this briefing is to provide a high-level strategic analysis of the FSA's primary focus areas,
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred forty-first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Last week, we were delighted to participate in the "ICT & FinTech Mission to Tallinn" this past week, courtesy of EIS | Enterprise Estonia. As we are settling down back home, we are iteratively reporting on 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,
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
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
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred thirty-ninth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. We are hearing that now is the best time since the pandemic to visit Kyoto. You will still see some late autumn foliage, the Japanese Yen is moving closer to its 160 JPY/USD ceiling (or beyond 180
asset management
SBI Holdings has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with AllianceBernstein, one of the world’s leading active investment firms with more than 50 years of history, for the establishment of a joint venture company in Japan specializing in active ETF management. AB is an active investment firm with assets
Insurance
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group, has agreed to acquire an 18% equity interest in Barings, an asset management company and wholly owned subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance (“MassMutual”), from MassMutual for a total investment of USD 1.44bn. Background of the Investment MS&
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred thirty-eighth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. We are up to the neck in earnings season, and have included ten quarterly reports in this edition. Among them, Infcurion and Sony Financial (again) present their first results as a public company. We will cover the mega