About
Minna Bank was established in 2021 as Japan's first digital bank targeting digital natives. The bank's core banking system was built on Google Cloud - a global first - to be fully digital. Designed and built from scratch, this fully digital bank was successfully launched in a mere 20 months, offering all services including new account opening via a smartphone app.
Innovation presentation
Minna Bank was established as a new subsidiary bank of the Fukuoka Financial Group（FFG） in January 2021 as Japan’s first-ever digital bank to target the digital natives in Japan. To realize fully-digitalized banking, the bank built the world’s first Google Cloud based core banking system. Since its public launch in May 2021,the bank has succeeded in causing a significant innovation in the financial industry.
Minna Bank’s services are delivered exclusively and entirely on smartphones, with a unique design language, minimalist functionality and services, and a modern app with a frictionless user interface.
We broke the banking conventions and “created the new”, from scratch, to establish a new bank that is “thoroughly frictionless” and “hyper-personalized”, attributes only realized because it is fully digital.
The aim of “Minna Bank” and its departure from conventional banking is to provide banking services which blend with the lives of our customers in collaboration with non-financial services.
As specific numerical targets, we aim to achieve 1.2 million customers (accounts), 220 billion yen in deposits, and 80 billion yen in consumer loan balance, and positive single-year profit by the third year.
Minna Bank’s initial service offerings include checking and debit accounts, deposit and withdrawal of funds with a smartphone, virtual debit card, and wire transfers. In partnership with MoneyForward, a Japanese fintech firm, customers can check their account info across various banks in a single interface. Premium service customers can access a JPY50,000 interest free line of credit and receive a 1% cashback for debit card usage.
Minna Bank offers 24/7 account opening by utilizing eKYC, a first for a Japanese bank. Customers can use their driver's license or other photo ID and confirm their ID via smartphone video call.
Minna Bank is also focused on delivering new and innovative user interfaces and customer experiences. With the Mobile Wallet feature, customers can deposit and withdraw funds with a QR code and a 4 digit passcode. Using the BOX feature, customers can create purpose specific savings. The hashtag feature makes it easy to organize a log of different types of expenses. The bank plans to add loans, wealth management, and various other services to its portfolio.
BaaS (Banking as a Service): providing novel value by seamlessly integrating financial and non-financial services
Minna Bank’s BaaS (Banking as a Services) platform can be seamlessly and transparently integrated with partner platforms to deliver hybrid services encompassing financial and non-financial services. The user experience is greatly enhanced by enabling users to experience the service without the feeling of dealing with a bank.
Minna Bank has reached agreement with two companies to deliver such hybrid services with the BaaS platform.
＊Persol Tempstaff: the human resources dispatching services subsidiary of Persol Holdings, one of the largest human resources services providers in Asia.
＊Pixiv: a social networking service with a membership of over 68M creative professionals and hobbyists.
The Pixiv Branch and Tempstaff Branch will launch in September and October 2021, respectively, as platforms to deliver unique hybrid services.
Pixiv Branch
Pixiv’s member are mostly illustrators, so illustrations by famous creators are used on the application screen (virtual card) for this branch. There are plans to hold a contest for virtual card illustrations, as well as plans for fans to support their favorite creators.
Tempstaff Branch
There are plans to deliver services that uniquely cater to human resource dispatching, such as loans for art school fees and features resembling asset formation deposits.
Minna Bank forged partnerships with a professional swimming team including an olympic medalist and with an eSports team. The bank did not simply pay a sponsorship fee to put their logo on the team uniforms, but also supported the teams by creating mechanisms based on money and financial services to more closely connect the team members and their fans. For example, eSports is still a new profession with low awareness, making it difficult for competitors (who tend to be of young age) to qualify for loans and other types of credit. The bank is currently working on a credit risk model which not only relies on the company one works for, but on an individual's profession and potential. The intent is to serve new digital professions such as eSports professionals, YouTubers, and streamers, further strengthening the bank's connection with digital natives.
“CheerBox” is a service that Minna Bank already delivers to connect fans with their teams. By saving money in a savings BOX dedicated to a particular team, Minna Bank will automatically transfer an amount equivalent1% of those savings to the selected team. Minna Bank funds the payment so the account holder’s balance does not diminish. This unique scheme enables a fan to support a team through the simple act of “saving” rather than the higher burden act of “donating”.
Uniqueness of the project
・Fukuoka Financial Group is composed of 3 regional banks with over a hundred years of history. The digital transformation plan for this tried and true banking institution is to spend the required time and diligence to get it right the first time.
Conversely, Minna Bank is the bank of the future, designed using a backcasting approach. With the benefit of having no legacy baggage, Minna Bank built its bleeding-edge systems, operations, and organizational culture from the ground up, and acquired a banking license in a mere year and nine months.
・The bank’s services target digital natives and provide services exclusively and entirely via smartphone. No need to mail forms or visit a physical branch; opening an account, deposit and withdrawing funds frictionlessly.
・The aim of Minna Bank is to provide banking services which blend with the lives of our customers in collaboration with non-financial services. For example, the CheerBox feature makes it easy for fans to support their teams by the simple act of “saving” rather than the higher burden act of “donating”.
・Minna Bank strategically employed staff from outside of the banking industry so that their strategies and implementation would not be bound by traditional banking industry norms. Minna Bank's staff consists of 40% bankers from FFG, and 60% external hires including engineers, designers, data scientists, and marketers.
