On September 30, 2026, Bruce Aronson (Head of the Japan Center at the US-Asia Law Institute, NYU Law) hosted Dr. Paul Sheard (prominent macroeconomist, former senior executive at S&P Global and Nomura Securities, and author of The Power of Money) to discuss Japan's most profound
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SuMiTB) has completed fundraising for its second domestic infrastructure vehicle, Japan Infrastructure No. 2, Limited Partnership, reaching a final closing at ¥123 billion ($830+ million) in total commitments. The fund, which was established on October 1, 2025, targets a wide spectrum of Japanese infrastructure assets, including
Japanese brokerage giant SMBC Nikko Securities and UK-based blockchain infrastructure firm Nethermind have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Uniswap Labs, Base, and the Nyx Foundation to build a compliant, institutional-grade decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity framework for the Japanese market. Dubbed the "DeFi Gateway," the project
West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) and Resona Holdings announced that JR West has completed its acquisition of a 20.0% stake in Kansai Mirai Bank from Resona Holdings. The transaction, executed on October 1, 2026, following regulatory approval for major bank shareholding, renders Kansai Mirai Bank an equity-method
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG, or SMBC Group) and its operating subsidiaries, led by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and Sumitomo Mitsui Card, have executed a series of strategic initiatives, demonstrating an aggressive balance sheet alignment and operational modernization strategy designed to maximize Return on Equity (ROE), rationalize Risk-Weighted
Mizuho Bank has completed bilateral test transactions with UBS across the financial messaging cooperative Swift's blockchain-based shared ledger, joining the banking sector's initiative to industrialize tokenized commercial bank deposits for international trade and wholesale finance. The trial environment interconnected Mizuho Bank and UBS to execute
SBI DigiTrust, a blockchain infrastructure provider under the SBI Group, has entered into an agreement with South Korean payment processor NICE Information & Telecommunication and blockchain infrastructure developer DSRV to conduct joint feasibility testing for cross-border stablecoin transactions between Japan and South Korea. The initiative aims to evaluate the
The global economy is entering an era of "Agentic Commerce," wherein autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents conduct 24/7/365 cross-border economic transactions across languages and time zones without manual human intervention. To support this paradigm, financial settlement infrastructure must undergo a structural evolution toward "on-
Welcome to the one hundred eighty-third edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The new rainy season: as of Tuesday morning, September 29, central Tokyo has received 34 consecutive days of rain… breaking the previous official record of 33 days (June 2019); looks like the streak extended to 35 consecutive
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange operator Coincheck has launched "Coincheck Leverage," a crypto asset Contract For Difference (CFD) trading service, expanding its product suite to include leveraged trading and shorting capabilities directly within its primary mobile application. The service has rolled out to iOS users, with Android and web platforms
MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP), the corporate venture capital subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), has made a strategic investment in San Francisco-based AI cybersecurity firm Doppel. The investment was executed through the MUFG Innovation Partners No. 3 Investment Partnership. Founded in 2022 by CEO Kevin Tian and CTO
Following major policy meetings by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan, market attention in Tokyo is refocusing on the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) and the potential review of its fundamental asset allocation. According to a recent report by the Daiwa Research Institute, key developments and upcoming milestones