Resona Holdings and JCB have announced a capital and business alliance. JCB will acquire a 2.24% stake from existing shareholders for approximately ¥8 billion, bringing the group’s holding ratio to 5.27%. The three pillars of the alliance are the expansion of corporate cards and business-to-business payments, credit assessment combining account and payments data, and the use of regional merchant networks.
Resona Holdings and JCB announced a capital and business alliance on 15 October. Resona Holdings will acquire a 2.24% stake in JCB from existing shareholders, with the acquisition price reported by Nikkei at approximately ¥8 billion. Including the holdings of Resona Card and Minato Bank, the group’s total holding ratio will be 5.27%. No specific product names or timing have been disclosed for the next steps.
The alliance is driven by an effort to diversify revenue amid favorable interest-rate conditions. While Resona Holdings is benefiting from improved deposit and lending margins as interest rates move higher, growth in fee income remains limited. The aim is to create a structure that can offer customers an integrated package covering accounts, payments, incoming funds and cash-flow management through payment services.
JCB aims to strengthen its presence beyond the competition for consumer rewards, in corporate expense processing, cash-flow management and regional merchants. Drawing on its position as a domestic brand, it is exploring opportunities to expand corporate card use and provide credit assessment using payments data. In the payments industry, the coexistence of code-based payments and cards is now a given, while the key to corporate payments lies in the design of both the credit-screening process and the sales operation.
The four pillars of the alliance are the expansion of corporate cards and business-to-business payments, services linking payments and financial services, improvements to the payment experience in regional markets and its use as an entry point to financial services, and joint development using data and digital technologies. Specific product names and timing have yet to be determined, but the feasibility of credit assessment combining account data and payments data is expected to be a central focus.