Briefing for Professionals in Marketing & Business Development of Financial Services
The PayPay Securities recruiting event, titled PayPay’s Vision for the Future of the Securities Industry, was held for seasoned professionals in marketing & business development domains of financial services on Thursday, March 14, 2024. This was the first recruiting event PayPay Securities hosted alone. On the day, members from PayPay Securities’ management team shared their thoughts on the future of the securities industry and their business plans. We hope you can enjoy the article whether you participated in the event or not!
Overview of the event
- Introduction of participants
- PayPay’s finance business & organization
- Panel discussion
- Q&A
- Selection process
Introduction of panelists
Kenji Bansho
President & Representative Director of PayPay Securities
Joining a credit card company as a new graduate, Bansho-san later transitioned to an online finance business. After experience in business development, corporate planning, and M&A domains, he joined SoftBank in 2016. He played a central role in developing new fintech businesses, including the founding of PayPay. Bansho-san became the President & Representative Director of PayPay Securities in June 2022.
Masamichi Yasuda
Executive Vice President, Corporate Officer, Co-COO
Head of the Finance Business Group
Yasuda-san has headed the finance business since January 2022 as the Executive Vice President, Corporate Officer, and COO of PayPay Corporation.
He has previously served in roles such as the Director, Executive Officer, and CRO of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Head of Market Products Division of the said Financial Group, and Executive Vice President of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. Yasuda-san became a part-time director of PayPay Securities in June 2023.
Masayoshi Yanase
Division Head, Finance Business Strategy Division, Finance Business Group
After joining Vodafone Corp and working in Vodafone Group Marketing, he subsequently joined SoftBank Mobile Corp. and worked in the Product & Service Division, then moved to SoftBank U.S. Inc. as Product Strategy Manager, and then to SoftBank Corp. Business Development Division as the Fintech Business Planning Manager. Finally, he joined PayPay in August 2018. Currently he is in charge of financial services (asset management and bank mini apps, Earn Points, insurance mini app, digital payroll, and launching new financial businesses) and payments related to inbound tourism.
Junichi Nagayama
Division Head, Business Promotion Division, PayPay Securities
Joining a credit card company as a new graduate, Nagayama-san took on the role of service planning. After involvement in inter-company alliance operations and financial business development at LINE Corporation, he joined SoftBank Corporation in 2020 to look after new business development in the fintech domain including the launch of PayPay Securities. Nagayama-san assumed his current position in October 2023.
Panel discussion
What is the goal of the finance business across the PayPay group?
Yasuda-san
We plan to create, which we believe we can, a financial ecosystem with PayPay at the core. PayPay Bank, Securities, Insurance, and Card, all using the PayPay Brand, are the financial businesses that currently comprise the PayPay group. PayPay is going to be the hub that connects these businesses. Thankfully, more than 60 million users have registered to use PayPay, five years into establishment. Going forward, my wish is that users also enjoy the financial services offered by PayPay, not just the payment service.
People often ask me what I think is the “keyword” of PayPay’s finance business, and when they do, I use the word “tech-fin” to explain. Tech-fin is fintech the other-way-around. Meaning, we want to do tech-driven finance which in fact is something that can be done at PayPay.
How do you see the industry and businesses changing now that the new NISA program has started?
Bansho-san
We’ve entered an era where it’s normal for everyone to own a brokerage account to manage their assets. When the general outline of the new NISA program was announced at the end of 2022, I found it to be several times better than I had expected. Now it has started, I can’t think of any reason for anyone not to use a NISA account. I believe the time will soon come when all people do indeed use a NISA account under the new program. The trading of mutual funds and stocks has traditionally been one type of business a securities company runs, but from now on, it needs to be re-defined as an asset management business. In a business such as ours, we take on challenges like this to attempt to realize new business models. In other words, I think it’s inevitable that the securities industry needs to undergo a major overhaul.
What is the relationship like with PayPay?
Yanase-san
As a service, PayPay is designed to provide a fun experience such as through the PayPay jingle or lottery getting triggered right after a payment. I want to make asset management a fun service too.
So far, we’ve been able to do this with Earn Points, which is probably why 16 million users have registered to use it. Even my kids, who are still in elementary and middle schools, use PayPay. I strive to develop various services that help anyone manage their assets and they have fun doing so.
Nagayama-san
On the practical side of things, there’s deep connection with PayPay, as a platform, both business and marketing-wise. The designing of business concepts, definition of service requirements, and even release details are all decided through close collaboration. This offers the opportunity to experience finance businesses at unprecedented scale and projects that you wouldn’t come across in other securities companies, since it is one of the largest platforms in the country.
What kind of company / organization do you want to become?
Bansho-san
As announced in a recent press release, the number of accounts with PayPay Securities has topped one million, making us a major player in the so-called online securities industry. Having said that, the company still has a long way to go. Our mission is to always continue to offer and promote new value to society, to provide services that excite.
This also means driving the shift towards investing money instead of saving it, a high savings rate being a social issue in Japan, and becoming a company that contributes to society.
What differentiates PayPay Securities from the others?
Yanase-san
Like PayPay, a user-first approach and sheer speed is what sets PayPay Securities apart from the others.
In terms of the user-first approach, there’s a huge opportunity for us in the “asset income doubling plan” that the Kishida administration has, which aims to double the total number of NISA accounts to 34 million, from the current 17. By no ordinary means can this plan be achieved. The key is how to extend a hand to those who have not been able to, or were uninterested in investing. That’s why we need to create a service that the user truly wants. So for anyone who’s passionate about accomplishing that, there’s no better place than here to do it.
As for speed, it’s part of our corporate culture to track how our business is doing at all times – week over week, month over month, year over year – and task ourselves with even more growth. We are thoroughly committed to working with speed, with the goal of making tomorrow better than today and the day after tomorrow better than tomorrow. That’s why decisions are made at break-neck speed. We do this through online meetings and internal text messages. If things were face-to-face and not remote, decisions wouldn’t be made as fast because you could only catch someone during business hours.
We have something we call work from anywhere at anytime (WFA), which is a remote work system in order to spur decision making. The more you are conscious of speed, the quicker you grow personally too. Being able to build a career at lightning speed is another aspect that makes this company appealing.
What efforts do you make to ensure communication and team work with your team members?
Nagayama-san
A lot of time is invested in communication. For example, there are weekly meetings where team members directly report to management about various projects and ask for input, and there is also a lot of text-based conversations too. I feel that we are tight-knit in this way. This way of working has proven to be quite popular as it allows team members to work on their tasks with direct knowledge of what management thinks. Relationships are much more distant in other financial institutions, so this is an important thing I want to continue.
Bansho-san
In the management team’s case, we all come into the office on the same day to have concentrated discussions about how to run the business, as one way to build rapport. We consciously use office days for team building.
Information sharing is also very important, so we’ve created an internal wiki where members of the management team including myself communicate things. We also have an “All Hands” where all employees get together to communicate.
Current job openings
*Job openings and employee affiliations are current as of the time of the interview.
