Wise granted approval to join Zengin, Japan’s domestic payment system

• Becomes the first non-bank operating in Japan approved to join the system

• Continues to build on local momentum after the Type 1 Funds Transfer Service Provider Licence grant in March 2024

Tokyo, Japan - October 18, 2024: Wise, the global technology company building the best way to move and manage the world’s money, is the first non-bank operating in Japan to be granted approval to join Zengin, Japan’s domestic payment network.

The approval is the first step for Wise in gaining the ability to process payments in real-time without any intermediaries. Once the work is completed to fully connect to Zengin, Wise will be able to provide instant (under 20 seconds) cross-border payments to and from Japan for individuals and businesses. 

Access to the Zengin system has historically been restricted to local banks. However, following a review in October 2022, Zengin-Net’s Board decided to extend access to fund transfer service providers, which paved the way for Wise Payments Japan K.K to apply to directly join the system.

Wise has spent the last thirteen years building an entirely new, better network for the world’s money. It is doing this by replacing the legacy correspondent banking system with a scalable alternative that directly connects local payment systems around the world without the need for banks and other intermediaries. Wise has already connected directly to 5 domestic payment systems in the UK, Europe, Hungary, Singapore and Australia. 

It is this infrastructure that enables around 60% of all transactions on Wise around the world to be processed instantly (under 20 seconds), with average fees of 0.62%. It also powers some of the largest banks and businesses in the world, such as Japan’s GMO Aozora Net Bank, to offer faster and more efficient cross-border payments to their customers through Wise Platform, Wise’s infrastructure solution. The approval to join Zengin further enhances Wise’s network capabilities, resulting in Wise Platform partners also enjoying quicker, cheaper, and more reliable payments to and from Japan. 

Earlier this year, Wise Payments Japan K.K became the one of the first international financial services companies to be granted a Type 1 Funds Transfer Service Provider licence. This means Wise’s Japanese customers, both individuals and businesses, can now send and receive up to 150 million JPY per transaction in more than 40 currencies - including major currencies such as EUR, GBP, USD, KRW SGD - at the mid-market rate with no hidden fees. 

Wise Japan Country Manager, Mika Sei: “In the 8 years that we have been operating in Japan, we have set a high benchmark for what a good product experience looks like through collaborative engagement with regulators and policy makers, which has benefited not just Wise, but the broader industry.

Six months ago, we celebrated Wise being among the first international companies operating in Japan to be granted a Type 1 Funds Transfer Service Provider licence allowing us to remove the 1 million JPY per transaction limit. 

Today’s approval to join the Zengin system, reinforces our ongoing commitment to the Japanese market and our ability to meet the highest standards of regulatory compliance needed to offer Japanese people and businesses a fast, low-cost, convenient service to manage their finances in multiple-currencies.

While we’re continuing to execute with speed on our mission of money without borders, in some ways, we’re just getting started.”   

-ENDS-