* Yasushi Nakayama, Director at the Center for Advanced Financial Technology, at the Bank of Japan had curious comments and figures to share on cloud usage.
* Just 8.4% of Japanese banks are using cloud based services today. Therefore 89.6% of banks in Japan are NOT using the cloud! The figures are better for Securities, Insurance and Credit Card firms that have a 44% use of cloud based services. Still 56% do NOT have any cloud service exposure.
* FEDI (Financial Electronic Data Interchange) is still early stages in Japan. Open API trends now common with Fintech & IT firms are not shared with Japanese manufacturers. This is a major hurdle with any IT evolution within Japan.
* Joji Saga, IT Development Manager, at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, JPX Group had very good insights. Japan has not grown digital labor like "Robo Advisors" aka RPA (Robotic Process Automation) quickly within Fintech.
* The main reason for this is the unknown level of governance issues from various kinds of users. Nobody wants to be the first, and make a mistake. JPX now has 1221 corporate members across all exchanges as of today.
* Japan's leading private watchdog for Bitcoin is the JCBA (Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association). It currently has 129 corporate members in Japan. This figure includes all FSA certified crypto exchanges in Japan.
* Governance issues are understandable given the 4 major hot wallet hacks in Japan. All started with Mount Gox, followed by Coincheck, Zaif and Bitpoint.
* Tomoo Onishi, CEO FXcoin had interesting comments on the age or various Japanese traders. Cryptocurrency is mainly traded by Japanese now in their 20s (29%) 30s (34%), while FX is dominated by those in their 40s (36%) and 50s (25%) however, securities are now mostly held by those in their 60s (69%).
* Crypto currency is known for volatility in market trading. Futures & Options have limited this volatility over the last 14 months. Stable coins are also growing in popularity in the future.
* Sweden is launching a CBDC or Digital Krona in Q1, this year. China expects to launch it own CBDC or Digital Yuan in Q2 of 2020. Japan hopes to catch up with a Digital Yen by Q3 or Q4. A Digital Euro is expected around the same time frame. No clear US plans for any Digital Dollar are expected soon.
* Data today is the most valuable resource in 2020. Top global hedge funds like Citadel & BlackRock or Japanese banks like Mizuho & MUFG use an edge. It is a streamed financial service called Panopticon by Altair, that create Digital Visualization Tools.
* Akihiro Shimoda, Deputy Director, Strategy Development at Japan's FSA had a very open view to helping Fintech startups and innovation. There will be a free FSA Fintech Seminar in Tokyo on April 21, 2pm-5pm contact FSA Support desk at Tel +81 03 3506 9510 or fintech@fsa.go.jp to attend.
* We now live in a world of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity). SIX have been in Japan for 30 years, the SDX or Swiss Digital Exchange, they are now rolling out is just the latest product offering of this well established institutional service.
* STO (Securities Token Offering) products have a high potential in cost savings, but regulations differ between nations. Most securities exchanges are now national in nature and sit within a clear border. SIX do not consider any STO as new in nature. More just a traditional product with new features. A curious distinction.
* Most European Securities Laws will adapt existing laws to absorb STO products in future. The US & Japan are creating specific new laws. Decentralized Financial markets or DeFi may force further change faster of this in future.
* Currently, Japan requires securities companies to have a Type 1 & 2 license for STO products. The full cost savings using any STO to raise capital may or may not be lower in cost short term. So Kawakami, Strategy Group, Fintertech commented on costs. More executed deals will need to be done before any clear STO costs structure and comparison can be done.
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