MUFG’s new digital bank will feature the cloud-based banking system developed and operated by Zerobank Design Factory (ZDF), a subsidiary and the technological development arm of Fukuoka Financial Group (FFG). The announcement was made by Minna Bank, a fellow subsidiary of FFG that runs on ZDF’s core banking technology. In collaboration with Accenture and operating on the Google Cloud, the MUFG deployment will be the first time Zerobank Design Factory will see its solution used by an organization outside of FFG.
“Since its inception (Minna Bank) has accumulated and updated its technologies and expertise related to systems, functionalities, and design required for a digital bank,” Minna Bank and ZDF President and CEO Kenichi Nagayoshi said. “As a result, we believe that the recent first external provision of our system marks a valuable milestone. Moving forward, we hope to contribute, even if just a little, to the development of the digital banking market both domestically and internationally through the provision of this system.”
Japan’s first digital bank, Minna Bank was founded in 2021 and currently boasts 1.3 million accounts. The name means “a bank for everyone” and the institution posits that its mission is to “deliver valuable connections to everyone.” In 2022, ZDF announced that it would offer its technology to both local and international financial institutions. Non-financial organizations looking to add banking services are also eligible to deploy the system.
The MUFG deployment is designed to meet the need for faster management speed, greater efficiency, and lower costs. Banking systems that leverage multi-cloud, microservice architecture, DevSecOps, and other advanced technologies offer an effective way to meet these goals. The core banking system designed by ZDF offers a modular design capable of partial integration with existing systems to give banks, non-bank financial institutions, and non-financial entities a range of versatile applications to better serve customers and clients.
“Our collaboration with Minna Bank reinforces that cloud-based technology can deliver flexibility, speed, and reliability for core systems within global banks,” Google Cloud Global Managing Director, Regulated Industries, Toby Brown said. “Minna Bank’s use of Google Cloud’s advanced technologies—like Google Kubernetes Engine for elastic scale, Spanner for global data consistency, and Vertex AI for intelligent insights—is a blueprint for accelerating digital transformation far beyond banking, enabling industries from retail to mobility to seamlessly embed financial services and create new value for their customers.”
A wholly-owned subsidiary of FFG, ZDF is the system development company that built Minna Bank’s core system. ZDF is also a pioneer in cloud banking, having been among the first developers in Japan to build a core banking system on a public cloud. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023.
The largest regional financial group in Japan, FFG was established in 2007. FFG’s network covers the entire Kyushu region, which is home to more than 10% of the country’s population and includes cities such as Fukuoka and Nagasaki.
Photo by Tayawee Supan on Unsplash
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