Mizuho Financial Group to work with SORACOM for IoT payments platform

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. last month announced that it has started research and development for the creation of a platform for secure payments using Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Taking into account the changes to the business environment resulting from technological improvements, Mizuho said it will conduct R&D on using secure communications to connect IoT devices (smart home devices, connected cars, wearables, etc.) to the bank's IT system (evaluation environment) to enable bank account access with the goal of providing safe and secure IoT payments.

Mizuho further announced that it will work with SORACOM, a market-leading platform for cloud-native IoT connectivity.

“We will work with SORACOM, Inc. on joint development using SIM cards connected to the SORACOM Air service and their IoT platform as the underlying technology”, it said.

The bank said that it will work with the “Liquid Regi” payment terminal with fingerprint sensors provided by Liquid, Inc. to enable bank transfers and balance inquiries with the touch of a finger. This would mark the first step of its trial utilizing IoT devices and an API.

“The results of this trial will enable us to identify issues and potential applications for IoT device–based services utilizing banking APIs”, it added.

In addition, Mizuho said that it will continue to pursue a range of cross–industry open innovation through collaboration with the companies in residence at the Mizuho Creation Studio lab facility within Finolab, as well as through business matching events, and a variety of other opportunities.