With the aim of developing a complete «Fintech Ecosystem» Mizuho, the second largest financial services group in Japan is finally establishing its own innovation centre.
Mizuho Financial Group has announced plans to establish an innovation lab within the Fintech Center of Tokyo. The new innovation centre which is known as «Finolab» is jointly operated by Mitsubishi Estate, Dentsu, and Information Services International–Dentsu.
The Finolab is a venue where fintech startups and professionals from various industries who support the startups for further growth collaborate. The Lab is located in Otemachi, a key district of initiatives for the Tokyo Global Financial Center.
Accelerate Technical Trials
As a first step, Mizuho will join multiple companies and startups within Finolab (pictured) in open collaboration to accelerate technical trials of new services based on the development environment of Mizuho's Open Bank Application Programming Interface (API) which is scheduled to launch in the near future.
Mizuho has regularly hosted forums and hackathons as well as partnering with a variety of companies on different fintech projects with the goal of promoting open innovation through the combination of financial services knowledge and experience utilising the ideas and expertise of financial technology companies. Establishing an innovation lab will provide Mizuho with opportunities to work in close collaboration with fintech companies.
