TOKYO, Japan — According to Nikkei, Google is entering the financial services market in Japan by buying a cashless payment startup for between 20 billion and 30 billion yen ($180 million to $270 million). Google is in talks to buy all of Mizuho Bank and other investors’ interests in pring, a Tokyo-based cashless payment and settlement business. Following debuts in the United States and India, Google wants to be able to offer fintech services such as payments and transfers in Japan next year. Google’s foray into fintech in Japan is the latest example of internet corporations leveraging their strong online presence and enormous databases to become one-stop shops for a variety of services, including finance and shopping. Consumers in Japan have been sluggish to accept cashless payments, indicating that there is still plenty of space for growth in the market. Google’s participation will ratchet up competition in a field where other internet companies have already identified possibilities. The deal was not confirmed by Google. Pring has an advantage over other cashless payment service providers since it has a large number of corporate customers. It has 50 Japanese banks as partners, including the three megabanks, as well as the Seven-Eleven convenience chain. The COVID pandemic has also hastened Japanese companies’ digital transformation. Pring is used by almost 400 companies, including Nippon Gas, to compensate employees for expenses and make payments to small business owners. On smartphones and PCs, the pring app allows users to make payments, cash transfers, and withdrawals. Since 2015, Google has been operating Google Pay, formerly Android Pay, a smartphone-based payment service. The service has approximately 150 million monthly users and is available in 40 countries, including Japan. This year, the company also announced that it will provide banking services in collaboration with 11 financial institutions, including Citigroup. In Japan, Google Pay is currently partnered with major credit and prepaid card companies. Google will be able to manage financial services on its own, rather than on behalf of its partners, now that it has pring and its network. Google Pay does not publish its market share in Japan’s cashless payment market, although credit cards are still the most common means of cashless payment, followed by prepaid cards and smartphone-based services like those offered by SoftBank Group’s PayPay and e-commerce giant Rakuten. PayPay and Rakuten have both built an environment in which customers may access a wide range of services, including e-commerce shopping, internet access, smartphone apps, and financial services. Google is eager to collaborate with a local player in Japan in order to better understand the country’s legislation and business procedures. The limited adoption of cashless payment among retail customers has been one of the problems. The Japanese government has tried to remedy this with financial incentives, but cashless payments accounted for just under 30% of retail transactions in 2020, compared to 70-90 percent in South Korea and China./n
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