At PayPay, we use data and technology to make money more accessible and convenient. In this series, we will show you what we as a company want to do and the vision we have for enriching people’s lives through easy access to financial services that meet changing needs as we all advance through different life stages. For this issue, we talked with Risa Hirata of the Finance Business Planning Department.
Find other articles about PayPay’s financial business here!
Risa Hirata
Finance Business Planning Department
Prior to joining PayPay, I worked for a securities company for 12 years, which I joined right after graduating university. I spent the first seven years in the market division, where I researched, traded, and planned businesses related to stocks and bonds. Then, after studying abroad for two years, I was involved in developing new businesses through investing in and collaborating with FinTech companies to deliver new financial services. I came to PayPay in July 2021 and joined my current team that works on financial services as PayPay’s new business.
Tell us about your current responsibilities
I am in charge of collaborating with PayPay Securities, one of the financial service partners of PayPay, to grow existing services and to consider and prepare for the release of new services. An example of one existing service is “Bonus Management,” a pseudo investment service used by over five million PayPay users, and we are constantly working to improve the UI/UX and the content of it.
Bonus Management overview: https://paypay.ne.jp/guide/bonus-management/
What do you find fulfilling, fun, and interesting about your work?
The approach of creating new financial services from the user’s perspective, as well as providing services on the PayPay platform that has a huge user base, are interesting overall. How to proceed with tasks is mostly left to our own devices, so I find it rewarding to see that my work is directly contributing to the results of our services.
So what is the hardest part of your job?
At PayPay, we are constantly working on unprecedented business models. To launch a service, we need to proactively think about processes, involve stakeholders, receive their support, and make sure that nothing is overlooked. Plus, PayPay aims to release services with as short a lead time as possible, so our responsibilities are quite big. Every day I feel myself getting tougher (laughs).
Anything about the culture of your department & team that you want to highlight?
The good thing about PayPay is that we are not bound by tradition, but are willing to embrace the cutting edge of anything. We are also fast, and have people with experience in a variety of financial services!
How do you find working at PayPay compared to your time at a financial institution?
I feel the big differences are the fact that we basically don’t need to commute so I can choose any environment that is easy to work in, and that we use Slack and Zoom which enables us to ask questions and share information swiftly. As a result, I think my output has increased dramatically in the same working hours.
What would you like to do at PayPay in the future?
I would like to figure out and provide easy-to-understand and easy-to-use services that will make asset management accessible to more users.
Please give a message to those interested in joining PayPay!
For those who want to realize new financial services through their own work, PayPay offers the best environment to do so. Our decision making is speedy, we have great team members, as well as necessary information, and various teams that support you.
If you have experience working at financial institutions, you will be able to play an active role immediately.
I’d love to have you join our team!
Currently available positions
Special Thanks: Risa Hirata / Planning: Misako Ichikawa / Author: Az (PayPay Inside-Out Editorial Team) / Translator: Language Support Team / Translation Editor: Justin
*Employees’ affiliations are as of the time of the interview.
