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
broker/dealer
Alpaca, a global leader in brokerage infrastructure APIs providing access to options, stocks, ETFs, fixed income, and crypto, recently announced the launch of US stock execution service for SBI Securities, Japan’s largest online brokerage firm. This announcement provides a broader offering for US stock execution and access in Japan.
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
banking
Fiscal year 3/2026 began in a highly uncertain global environment, creating significant headwinds for financial forecasts across the banking sector. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), like its peers, entered this period with caution. Market turmoil, triggered by a U.S. tariffs announcement in May 2025, prompted the firm to
artificial intelligence
Japan Digital Design (JDD) has developed a 70-billion parameter large language model (LLM) called "Llama-3.3-fintranslate-JDD-70b" specialized in translating financial market-related documents. In internal evaluations using actual business data, the model achieved performance exceeding global models such as GPT-4o. Additionally, JDD plans to soon begin providing a translation
banking
Mizuho Financial Group's results for the first half of fiscal year 2025 (FY25 H1) reveal a company operating with significant positive momentum. The strong performance, coupled with an upward revision of its full-year profit outlook and an aggressive stance on shareholder value, signals a confident and assertive strategy.
banking
As Japan's largest megabank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) occupies a central position in both the domestic and global financial landscape. The company's recent disclosure of strong half-year financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2026 provides a clear window into its current operational momentum
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
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
private equity
For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, Integral Corporation's financial results show a year-over-year decrease in top-line revenue and profit, a direct result of significant fair value gains recorded in the prior year. However, this comparison masks a period of strong underlying operational performance, highlighted by the
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
stock exchange
Hiromi Yamaji, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Japan Exchange Group (JPX), spoke at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on November 5, 2025, focusing on Japan's ongoing corporate governance reforms, the resultant market momentum, and JPX’s strategic initiatives for future growth. Key Takeaways 1. Sustainable