payments
The Financial Services Agency established the "FinTech Proof-of-Concept Hub" in September 2017 to help resolve hesitations and concerns that FinTech companies and financial institutions tend to have when attempting unprecedented proof-of-concept experiments, by supporting their experiments through the clarification of related laws and regulations interpretations and compliance/supervisory
venture capital
Fivot, a startup company aiming to become a challenger bank pioneering the future through "AI × Finance," has completed a funding round consisting of a 1 billion yen third-party allotment of shares in a Series B equity round and 1 billion yen in debt financing (loans), totaling 2 billion
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred thirty-sixth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. A couple of items from the rumor mill, as they seem to have escaped the inner circle of confidentiality. First, Revolut is working on obtaining a banking license in Japan. Prior to being sanctioned with a business improvement
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred thirty-fifth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. There is a fair chance that you have read more than your fair share of characterizations of what Takaichi is and is not, and what her policies will or will not be. As always, we encourage you to
IPO
Infcurion debuted on the TSE’s Growth Segment on Friday, October 24, 2025. After bookbuilding resulted in a ¥1,680 reference price, above the indicated range up to ¥1,600, the stock’s first quote was ¥1,560, and the closing price ¥1,451, altogether an underwhelming debut. At the
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred thirty-fourth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Another day, another record high for the Nikkei 225 - by the time I hit sent on this weekly report, we might well have crossed the 50,000 index level for the first time. Obviously, one of the
stablecoin
Japan's three megabanks are planning to jointly issue corporate-use stablecoins pegged to legal tender like the yen and the dollar, aiming to promote their use in the country. MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Mizuho Bank intend to issue the stablecoins under a unified standard for use
payments
PayPay Corporation has launched "PayPay Gift," which allows users to send digital gift certificates to friends and family for use at partner stores. Senders can set the gift certificate amount in 1-yen increments as desired, and send them with personalized messages such as "Thank you" or
cross-border payments
NTT Data has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NPCI International Payments Limited, a subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The MoU establishes the foundation to enable acceptance of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India's leading real-time payment system for Indian tourists in Japan. This
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred thirty-third edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. What a difference a week makes! For last week's edition, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Takaichi, coming fresh off her victory in the LDP presidential election, would become Japan's first female prime minister.
credit card
Nudge's next-generation credit card "Nudge" has reached its 4-year service anniversary in September 2025, while the company has implemented various feature expansions to enhance the user experience over the past year. Background and Mission Japan has high trust in and acceptance of cash compared to other
credit card
Infcurion, which will go public on the Growth Segment of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on October 24, 2025, has started offering the latest version of its next-generation card platform "Xard (Exard)". This latest version adds integrated implementation of "member management," "funding source management," and