weekly
Welcome to the one hundred fourth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Happy second birthday to us! What started as a personal effort to keep our fingers on the pulse of the Finance & FinTech ecosystem is now being shared with more than 15,000 subscribers (12,500 on LinkedIn
weekly
Welcome to the one hundred third edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The Bank of Japan meets for its Monetary Policy Meeting this week. The consensus is for no change in the policy rate. The Nikkei reports real wages down 1.8% in January, the first time in negative territory
carbon credit
Asuene and SBI Holdings have made an additional investment of 300 million yen in Carbon EX, which operates a carbon credit and emissions trading exchange. In addition, Asuene has increased its investment ratio in Carbon EX to 51%, making it a consolidated subsidiary. The cumulative investment amount is now 400
capital markets
Nomura Research Institute, Nomura Securities, BOOSTRY, DeCurret DCP, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation collaborated on the issuance of a digital bond using a new settlement scheme, and executed a proof-of-concept for Japan's first securities settlement using digital currency. These steps would expand the market for digital securities and
weekly
Welcome to the one hundred second edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. A big thank you to everyone who made it to Tokyo for the core of Japan Fintech Week 2025, and especially those who joined us for our meetup on Monday, the most international participation we have ever had!
sustainability
The Sustainability Standards Board of Japan (SSBJ) was established in July 2022 to develop sustainability disclosure standards to be applied in Japan and to contribute to the development of international sustainability disclosure standards, following the establishment of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). In developing the sustainability disclosure standards, in
weekly
Welcome to the one hundred first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer, and welcome to Japan Fintech Week 2025! The Japanese equity market has been lagging so far this year. Topix and Nikkei were down by around 2% and 3% mid-week, respectively, while the Hang Seng Index led with a
carbon
Nomura Securities has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Shonaikomekobo Corporation for a business collaboration aimed at promoting decarbonization and enhancing agriculture using biochar. Shonaikomekobo is a group of farmers and agricultural successors from the Shonai region of Yamagata Prefecture in Japan engaged in rice cultivation and other agricultural
asset management
Taking advantage of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's “Action to Implement Management that is Conscious of Cost of Capital and Stock Price”, Fivestar Asset Management today launches the Capital Efficiency Improvement Fund (Nickname: "TOB Hunter"), an open-ended, additional type fund investing in domestic (Japanese) equities. The fund
trading
AlpacaTech, a subsidiary of FOLIO Holdings that provides innovative financial solutions as part of the SBI Group, has begun providing Japanese and US stock news data owned by Minkabu The Infonoid and its subsidiary Minkabu Solution Services on the Snowflake Marketplace. Snowflake is currently accelerating its adoption as a data
weekly
Welcome to the ninety-ninth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. This edition, and the magical 100th edition next week, bracket one of the world's largest crypto conferences held in a suburb of Shenzhen. While we still have to spot the Energizer Bunny Steve Vallas hopping around the island,
bitcoin
Metaplanet has boldly declared its fiscal year 2024 a resounding success, marking a transformative shift from its previous incarnation as a legacy, asset-heavy business to Asia's premier publicly traded Bitcoin Treasury Company. Its earnings presentation, emblazoned with the tagline "Secure the Future with Bitcoin," underscores the