Japan Cards & Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023

Japan Cards & Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023

Summary

GlobalData’s Japan Cards & Payments: Opportunities and Risks to 2023' report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the Japan cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including cash, cards, credit transfers, and cheques during the review-period (2015-19e).

Japan’s payment landscape continues is dominated by cash, which accounted for 73.3% of the overall payment volume in 2019. With government initiatives to promote electronic transactions and a growing payment infrastructure, payment cards gained prominence during the review period (2015-19e). Meanwhile, card issuers and payment service providers are focusing on developing payment infrastructure via the expansion of the payment acceptance network. In addition, the market is witnessing new developments encompassing payment card security and convenient payment solutions, with card issuers and technology companies experimenting with advanced technologies such as blockchain and biometrics.

The outbreak of COVID-19 is also driving non-cash payments in the country. Japan has so far seen over 7,600 confirmed cases, with 143 lives lost. Overall consumer spending has been directly impacted, with the travel and tourism and food and drink sectors among the most affected. Major global events including the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games have been postponed, resulting in significant losses and expected future losses for the economy in general, directly impacting payment industry revenues. Due to restrictions imposed as a result of the emergency, consumers are increasingly shifting from in-store to online purchases; e-commerce is one of the few industries that can expect an overall positive impact from COVID-19.

Scope

- In April 2018, the Japanese government unveiled its “cashless vision” to increase cashless payments up to 40% by 2027 through various initiatives, including the standardization of QR-code payments, raising awareness of electronic payments among individuals and businesses, the promotion of cashless payments at self-service kiosks, and the development and maintenance of cashless statistics. In line with the government’s vision, in November 2019, the Kanagawa Prefectural Government revealed plans to promote electronic payments through the “Cashless City Kanagawa” campaign.
- International companies are partnering with domestic acquirers to enter the merchant acquiring market. In February 2020, the Hong-Kong payments services provider Oceanpayment partnered with JCB to become the latter’s acquiring partner. Oceanpayment serves merchants across varied sectors, including travel, entertainment, retail and others. The firm provides over 500 payment methods in 200 countries. Earlier in December 2019, FIS partnered with JCB; this agreement allows enterprise merchants that process payments through Worldpay to accept JCB cards. Worldpay was previously acquired by FIS.
- The Japanese government introduced a reward points-based rebate system on cashless payments to offset the drop in spending due to the high consumption tax. Starting from October 2019, this tax was increased to 10% from 8%. As the tax hike will hurt the sales of smaller retailers, the government is offering offer reward points worth 5% of the purchase value to consumers who make cashless payments at small-medium sized retailers, which can be used for later purchases. Within a week of new tax implementation, the total value of reward points reached JPY6bn ($55.2m), and 520,000 retailers participated in the program. The program will run until June 2020.

Reasons to Buy

- Make strategic business decisions, using top-level historic and forecast market data, related to the Japancards and payments industry and each market within it.
- Understand the key market trends and growth opportunities in the Japan cards and payments industry.
- Assess the competitive dynamics in the Japan cards and payments industry.
- Gain insights into marketing strategies used for various card types in Japan.
- Gain insights into key regulations governing the Japancards and payments industry.