PayPay increases stake in PayPay Securities to 75%
PayPay will acquire shares in PayPay Securities from SoftBank and LY Corporation, as well as subscribe to a third-party allocation of shares conducted by PayPay Securities, with the aim of further enhancing the corporate value of PayPay Securities.
By becoming the parent company of PayPay Securities, PayPay aims to strengthen integrations among its diverse services thereby enhancing user convenience and customer satisfaction of services offered by PayPay Securities. In addition, SoftBank and LY Corporation, as parents of PayPay, will strive to strengthen financial businesses across the group to further increase their corporate value.
It should be noted that Mizuho Securities, a collaborative partner in PayPay Securities' business, has also agreed to this initiative and will continue to cooperate towards enhancing the corporate value of PayPay Securities.
Background
PayPay has focused on expanding features and services for users and merchants, leading the general shift towards cashless transactions in Japan. From its service inception approximately six years ago, PayPay has attracted 67 million users who have registered to use the service, and reached a consolidated gross merchandise volume of 12.5 trillion yen for the fiscal year 2023. In October 2022, PayPay acquired PayPay Card Corporation as its wholly owned subsidiary to unify the service experience between the PayPay app and credit card services as demonstrated through PayPay Credit, significantly increasing the number of valid cards in distribution as well as transaction volume.
PayPay also made an investment in PayPay Securities in April 2023, resulting in a profound increase in the number of brokerage accounts, including NISA accounts, opened with PayPay Securities, by providing users access to services such as PayPay Invest, Earn Points, and Invest Easy within the PayPay app.
PayPay Securities started its services as Japan's first smartphone-based securities company in June 2016, with the vision of providing an environment in which anyone can casually and easily invest and make asset management feel more accessible. In February 2021, the company changed its name to PayPay Securities to align with the PayPay brand, aiming to evolve into a highly convenient service closely integrated with daily life through its partnership with PayPay.
In addition to providing the PayPay Securities app where users can purchase shares of well-known Japanese and American companies, mutual funds, and ETFs starting from just 1,000 yen, the company took further steps to lower the barrier of entry to investing by launching Earn Points in April 2020, enabling users to experience simulated investments using PayPay Points, before launching PayPay Invest in August 2022, enabling users to trade securities from within the PayPay app. NISA account transactions are also supported as of January 2024.
PayPay has already been strengthening its ties with PayPay Securities, and through the recent acquisition of shares and subscription to a third-party allocation, PayPay Securities will become a consolidated subsidiary of PayPay. The aim of this decision is to make PayPay Securities’ services more convenient and user-friendly, and to further expand financial businesses across the wider PayPay group.
Both PayPay and PayPay Securities will strive to provide even more easy-to-use services by developing PayPay into a comprehensive financial services app. This involves strengthening integration not only with PayPay's services but also with PayPay Card Corporation, another PayPay subsidiary, in addition to maintaining the longstanding partnership with Mizuho Securities.
Please follow us to read more about Finance & FinTech in Japan, like hundreds of readers do every day. We invite you to also register for our short weekly digest, the “Japan FinTech Observer”, on LinkedIn, or directly here on the platform.
We also provide a daily short-form Japan FinTech Observer news podcast, available via its Podcast Page. Our global Finance & FinTech Podcast, “eXponential Finance” is available through its own LinkedIn newsletter, or via its Podcast Page.
Should you live in Tokyo, or just pass through, please also join our meetup. In any case, our YouTube channel and LinkedIn page are there for you as well.
