Japan is often thought to be a fintech laggard. But the new partnership with Australia shows that Japanese fintech is gaining speed.
Australia and Japan’s corporate regulators have inked in a “framework” for cooperation aimed at boosting financial services innovation, including fintech.
As part of the framework, the Japan Financial Services and Australian Securities and Investments Commission have agreed to share information on regulation and help fintechs enter each other's markets
“This Framework will help open up an important market for Australian fintechs,” said ASIC in a statement.
“The Japanese economy is the third largest in the world, with services - including financial services - accounting for about three-quarters of GDP.”
The deal is the latest of many for the Australian regulator, which has now set up information sharing agreements with Canada, the UK, Indonesia, Kenya, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Japan, while an advanced technological economy, is often said to be a fintech laggard. An Ernst and Young survey of international fintech published last week found that Japan had the slowest rate of fintech adoption in the developed world.
Japanese slowness may owe in part to a law, repealed last year, that prevented Japanese banks owning more than 5 percent of a technology company. The law blocked fintech companies getting investment from or partnering with banks.
