In general, the country anticipates that more lenient investment policies will bolster the local lending sector. Despite Amazon.com and other major IT companies investigating opportunities within the nation’s financial services, Japanese banks continue to face limitations when offering non-core banking services.

Currently, bank holding firms must secure approval from the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan, Japan’s regulatory body, if they wish to acquire a stake exceeding 15% in non-financial businesses. The Japanese government intends to modify these regulations so that banks would merely need to notify their investments in fintech companies to the FSA without needing prior approval.

Additionally, existing rules mandate that systems development and advertising firms derive 50% or more of their revenue from bank-related services. Should this condition be relaxed, developers could market settlement system solutions to a broader customer base, while advertising units might target mortgage borrowers with their promotional offerings.