Japan Cashless Promotion Council

We have previously written about the dire state of cashless payments in Japan (“The Curious Case of Cash in Japan”). To help address these issues, the “Cashless Promotion Council” (キャッシュレス推進協議会) has been recently established with the aim to promote a cashless society with help from business, government and academia.

Background

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has released its “Cashless Vision” on April 11, 2018, with the explicitly stated goal to achieve at least a 40% cashless payment ratio (Japan currently sits at just about 20%, and is one of the industrialized nations’ laggards) by the time the 2025 World Expo comes around, for which Osaka is competing against Ekaterinenburg and Baku.

To effectively promote cashless payments in Japan, it is necessary to combine forces by across all Japanese institutions. Hence, it was recommended that the “Cashless Promotion Council” be established as a cross-industry organization, and the establishment of the Council was clearly stated in the government’s “Future Investment Strategy 2018”. With the support of volunteers from private companies, the Cashless Promotion Association was incorporated on July 2, 2018.

Planned Activities

The following seven projects are scheduled for the first fiscal year.

• Standardization of QR code settlement
  Aim for standardization of technical and operational specifications for QR code payments that are most likely to spread and increase; reduce the workload on retailers, reduce system development costs, and spread to consumers
• Promotion of cashless at automatic service machines
  Clarify advantages/disadvantages related to the introduction of cashless to automatic service machine; clarify the barriers (expense, institution, function provider etc) accompanying the introduction of cashless and consider concrete countermeasures
• Paperless and cashless payment
  Define transactions that can be paperless, related to cashless payment, prepare an environment that can realize efficient, safe and secure paperless at shops, including system compliance; consider alternative means (including standardization) that enable consumers to grasp the situation of cashless payment that they used
• Maintenance of cashless related statistics
  Identify relevant organizations to improve cashless related statistics; request related organizations to cooperate on statistical maintenance, centering on the council, to consolidate and publish; clarify costs related to cash
• Development of a “Cashless Vision 2019”
  The vision includes a concrete road map to realize 40% and 80% cashless payments; also, from this fiscal year, consider the necessity of developing nationwide platform companies
• Preparation of API guidelines
  On the basis of the reference system published during the last fiscal year, expand the scope, such as maintenance of update system, for acquirers, API development for affiliated stores, etc.; in order to actually use the API, it is also necessary to develop standard contracts
• Expansion of council business
  Consider necessary measures to further develop / expand the cashless promotion council

As a neutral promoter with the ultimate aim of realizing the world’s highest level of cashless payments of 80% the Cashless Promotion Assocation will offer a forum for discussion to all people involved in cashless.

Membership Admission

The cashless promotion council is continuously recruiting members. Those who are interested in joining can refer to the Council’s website for further information: http://paymentsjapan.or.jp/

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