Jibun Bank’s Masahiro Ikedate,
Chief Executive, Systems Unit
(left); Takeo Tohara, President
and CEO; and Hirotaka Toeda,
General Manager, New Product
Development, and Chief Manager,
Corporate Strategy Division
Banking on Mobile
JAPAN’S VIRTUAL JIBUN BANK USES ORACLE TO FOCUS ON WIRELESS CUSTOMERS.
ith global financial institutions rethinking their operations
in a precarious economy, a new Japanese bank has built
an unprecedented model from the ground up. Jibun Bank—the
name means “personal bank”—is a virtual bank designed from
inception to be a customer-centric, user-friendly financial
institution open for business anytime, anywhere. Its primary
branch is in the palm of a customer’s hand.
Many traditional institutions offer internet banking, and
some offer mobile access, but only Jibun Bank is designed
specifically for mobile phone access—and it’s paying off with
consumers. Licensed on June 17, 2008, Jibun Bank quickly
attracted nearly 700,000 account holders. President and CEO
Takeo Tohara projects an account base of 2. 4 million within
three years and 3. 4 million within five.
PE TER STEMBER
As a joint venture between Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ
(BTMU), Japan’s largest commercial bank, and KDDI, a leading
Japanese telecommunications company, Jibun’s initial success
isn’t surprising. Leveraging the strengths of the equal equity
partners (each of which is a 50 percent shareholder), Jibun
Bank represents a fusion of mobile communications technology
and deep financial services expertise, not to mention a ready
customer base among BTMU’s 40 million account holders and
KDDI’s 30 million customers.
The timing was right, says Tohara, who notes that Japan is
the most advanced country in the world for 3G mobile penetration and that mobile handsets in Japan are highly sophisticated.
According to a 2008 telecommunications usage trend survey by
the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs, mobile has become the
standard channel for internet access. “The cell phone is largely
proliferated in Japan, both volumewise and functionwise,” says
Tohara. “It has already become a part of citizens’ lifestyle, not
only for voice communications but for data communications
such as music, video, and commercial transactions. We thought
it was the right timing to introduce financial transactions as part
of this usage.” The result is a virtual bank with a complete lifecycle of services available via mobile phone, including account
opening, account transfers, ordinary and timed yen deposits,
and foreign exchange (forex) accounts.
DRIVING NEW BUSINESS
Both joint venture partners benefit from creating a new banking
model. By joining forces with a major bank, KDDI is able to
strengthen its customer base in the over- 30 demographic, where
the company has a weaker share relative to its mobile phone
service competitors. Adding a banking component enables the
company to enrich its content while gaining new revenue from
