Mizuho to establish fintech innovation lab in Tokyo

Mizuho Financial Group has announced plans about setting up an innovation lab within the Fintech Center of Tokyo ‘Finolab’, in order to create a fintech ecosystem and enhance customer services.

Finolab is jointly operated by Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd., Dentsu Inc., and Information Services International–Dentsu, Ltd. Mizuho said that the innovation lab will provide it with opportunities to work in close collaboration with fintech companies and the joint operators of Finolab to create an environment for cultivating open innovation and coming up with ideas for new financial services.

As a first step, Mizuho will join multiple companies and startups within Finolab in open collaboration to accelerate technical trials of new services based on the development environment of Mizuho's Open Bank API, which is scheduled to launch in the near future.

According to the official announcement, the Open Bank API will enable a third party to interface with the bank's IT system in order to access customer information and create/provide more diverse financial services. Third parties must be authorized to utilize the API by having in place the necessary information security controls and having received the appropriate permissions from the bank and the bank's customers (depositors).

Mizuho envisions a fintech ecosystem where participants create and promote an environment which is ripe for invention, legal reform, and new ideas, ultimately enabling fintech companies and financial institutions to provide their customers with enhanced services. Moreover, as fintech companies grow and more participants will join the ecosystem and diverse financial services with sustainable business models will be born, thereby creating a virtuous cycle of service enhancement.

Based on the work in the innovation lab, Mizuho said it will develop a specific business model for advancing additional projects which seek to discover fintech's potential for enhancing the services we provide to our customers.