BaaS
Digital Garage and Resona Holdings have signed an amendment agreement to their capital and business alliance contract, aimed at further strengthening the alliance established in November 2022 and updated in December 2023. Through this strengthened partnership, both companies aim to further integrate their management resources and expand their share in
payments
Digital Garage's financial report for the fiscal year ending March 2025 presents a nuanced picture of growth and strategic realignment, characterized by significant progress in its core payment solutions segment alongside challenges and forward-looking initiatives in its long-term incubation and global investment sectors. The company's strategic
life insurance
LIFENET Insurance Company has released its results for fiscal year 2024 (ending in March 2025), providing a comprehensive overview of its financial performance, strategic initiatives, and future outlook. LIFENET's key achievements in FY2024 include significant growth in annualized premium of policies-in-force, strong insurance service results, and steady growth
neobank
Sony Group is embarking on a significant strategic shift by partially spinning off its Financial Services business. The motivation behind this move is multifaceted, encompassing a desire for greater focus on core entertainment and technology areas, enhanced operational agility for both Sony and the financial services entity, and an improved
neobank
Sumitomo Mitsui Card and SoftBank have signed a basic agreement regarding a comprehensive business alliance in the digital field. Based on this alliance, PayPay Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Card will begin new collaborative initiatives. 1. Purpose of This Alliance In recent years, with the evolution of technology and advancement of
neobank
SBI Sumishin Net Bank (SSNB) has delivered a strong financial performance for the Fiscal Year 2024, concluded on March 31, 2025. The results are characterized by robust growth in both income and profitability, although slightly missing targets on ordinary profit (95% of forecast), mortgage loan origination (97%), and number of
weekly
Welcome to the one hundred tenth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The decades-long (if not forever) pricing system for Japanese sake has been broken. It has not happened overnight, rather it has been a slow, post-pandemic process as far as I could tell, but by now most of the
digital
Mitsubishi UFJ Bank has taken a hybrid cloud approach enabled by Oracle technology to modernize the system infrastructure for its online banking service, Mitsubishi UFJ Direct. The bank selected Oracle Exadata Database Machine, the highest performing system for Oracle Database, to upgrade the Mitsubishi UFJ Direct platform. Following the implementation,
joint venture
FPT Corporation announced a strategic partnership with Sumitomo Corporation and SBI Holdings - Japan's leading conglomerates in the finance and industrial sectors to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) adoption through the FPT AI Factory ecosystem, contributing to the advancement of sovereign AI in Japan. Under this partnership, Sumitomo and
cashless
In the current issue of the Nomura Research Institute's "Financial Information Technology Focus", Daisuke Tanaka lays out projections for individual payment instruments through 2030, based on available 2023 data. According to various statistical data, the total amount of cashless payments in 2023 (defined here as the
BaaS
Money Forward has decided, by a resolution of its Board of Directors, that it will enter into a basic agreement with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation regarding the establishment of a preparatory company to consider the provision of BaaS/digital banking, and that it concluded the
cashless
PayPay Corporation has launched a new payment method, "PayPay Bank Balance," starting April 15, 2025. This payment option is available through the PayPay Bank app provided by PayPay Bank Corporation. Payments made through the PayPay interface within the PayPay Bank app will be directly debited from the Japanese