payments
Digital Garage's (DG) first-quarter results for the fiscal year ending March 2026 present a stark dichotomy that requires careful dissection. The headline figure—a consolidated pre-tax loss of ¥1.3 billion—paints a misleading picture of the company's health, triggering a market sell-off. This loss was
consumer finance
AEON Financial Services has submitted an amended securities report and other documents for the fiscal year ending February 2025 to the Director-General of the Kanto Regional Financial Bureau on July 31, 2025, and has also corrected its financial results summary, as detailed below. As announced on July 9, 2025, regarding
artificial intelligence
Salesforce Japan announced that The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ has selected the autonomous AI agent "Agentforce for Financial Services" specialized for the financial industry. This case represents Japan's first implementation of Agentforce for Financial Services. The Agentforce for Financial Services selected by Mitsubishi UFJ Bank this
payments
Visa Worldwide Japan, SAP Japan, Sumitomo Mitsui Card, and Digital Garage have launched an embedded finance solution for B2B payments developed through collaboration between Visa and SAP, marking the first deployment of this solution in Japan during fiscal year 2025 to improve B2B payment efficiency. Visa began collaborating with SAP
consumer finance
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, along with its subsidiaries Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Card, announce the addition of "Money Assist" provided by Sumitomo Mitsui Card to the product lineup of the comprehensive financial service "Olive" offered to individual customers. "Money Assist" is
policy
Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has published the "Reiwa 7 (2025) Information and Communications White Paper," presenting a critical analysis of the nation's digital landscape. Framing 2025 as a "quarter-century mark" in the 21st century, the white paper establishes
corporate venture capital
Hokkoku Financial Holdings (Hokkoku FHD) Group's Hokkoku Bank and Soft Space have commenced the development of a SoftPOS solution that enables touch payments from international payment networks including Visa, and for the first time in the world, payments using deposit-type stablecoins. At the same time, QR Investment, a
venture capital
Japan Investment Corporation (JIC) has decided to make an LP investment of JPY3.5 billion in Genesia Venture Fund IV Investment Limited Partnership (“GV-4”), which is managed by Genesia Ventures. JIC’s mission is to create a virtuous cycle of risk capital that supports the next generation of domestic industries
banking
GMO Aozora Net Bank has reached a major milestone as an internet-only bank in June 2025, with the number of corporate account openings exceeding 200,000 and deposit balances surpassing 1 trillion yen. GMO Aozora Net Bank began its internet banking business in July 2018, aiming to be an online
policy
The "Grand Design and Action Plan for a New Form of Capitalism, 2025 Revised Edition," was approved at a Cabinet meeting on June 13, 2025. It is a comprehensive policy blueprint from the Japanese government outlining its strategy to fundamentally reshape the nation's economy. It presents
payments
The "New AEON Pay" has been launched, combining the legacy AEON Pay and WAON electronic money services, and creating a unified mobile payment platform. Key highlights include: * Expansion to 4.3 million merchant locations (1.4x increase) * Support for approximately 180 local communities through donation features * New promotional
venture capital
SBI Investment, a subsidiary of SBI Holdings which manages and operates venture capital funds, has completed fundraising for the “SBI Digital Space Fund”, with total capital commitments reaching JPY 100 billion. In March 2023, the SBI Group established SBI PE Holding as an intermediate holding company to oversee its private