Okasan Securities to choose GMO Aozora Net Bank as BaaS provider
Okasan Securities announced that it has concluded a basic agreement with GMO Aozora Net Bank to launch a bank agency business.
Since Okasan’s founding, the group has provided specialized investment and asset management services to their customers as an independent financial group rooted in the local community, with the management philosophy of “Customer Matters.”
From April of this year, the basic policy of the medium-term management plan has set the goal of “transforming the business model and establishing a management foundation that will continue to grow for the next 100 years,” and the core elements of the business model transformation as expansion beyond the securities business.
Okasan has entered into this basic agreement as one of their measures to provide total consulting for all of their customers’ assets, including “core assets” (assets that are stably managed over the medium to long term), and to become their customers’ primary financial institution. Through acting as a banking agent for GMO Aozora Net Bank, Okasan Securities will be able to offer a wider range of products and services, and will be able to respond more broadly to the diversifying needs of its customers.
Other providers that operate a branch under the GMO Aozora Net Bank Baas offering are (in order of onboarding) CaelCard, Paytner, Paild, Habitto, and Cashari.
Okasan Securities aim to start services as soon as possible, i.e. during the first half of 2024, by utilizing BaaS (Banking as a Service) provided by GMO Aozora Net Bank and using a scheme in which Okasan Securities is entrusted with banking agency services by the bank. One of the growth strategies in the medium-term management plan is to “enhance the sophistication of our platform.” Okasan aims to move away from being self-sufficient by effectively utilizing resources outside the group, while also expanding their sales channels the provision of securities services.
GMO Aozora Net Bank has a corporate vision of “Everything is for our customers. Aiming to be the №1 technology bank” and a business policy of “growth of our customers’ business = growth of our company.” The bank already has a comprehensive track record of over 500 BaaS initiatives, and are a reliable partner that contributes to the creation of digital services for businesses and the improvement of customer experience value.
By combining the mutual resources of Okasan Securities’ face-to-face securities consulting capabilities and GMO Aozora Net Bank’s online banking capabilities, Okasan Securities will significantly improve the quality of their services. The working title for the new services is “Okasan BANK”.
Once the service launches, Okasan Securities currently plan to provide the following benefits to their customers:
- Provision of special term interest rates
Customer satisfaction can be improved by providing services for bank deposits, which account for the majority of customers’ financial assets, such as by giving special interest rates to term deposits provided by Okasan BANK. - Simplifying deposits into securities accounts
Currently, customers must transfer funds from their bank accounts to their securities accounts head at Okasan. With an Okasan BANK account, deposits into Okasan Securities will be handled free of charge. - Use of the Okasan BANK Card (tentative name)
The Okasan BANK Card (tentative name), which will be issued to customers who open an Okasan BANK account, will be used as a bank card with a debit function. This will enable services such as cash back for a portion of payments made using the debit function, waiving fees for withdrawals at affiliated ATMs and transfers to other banks for a certain number of times, and improve customer satisfaction.
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