Newsletter_FINCITY.TOKYO UPDATE (JUNE 2025)

Updates from Tokyo’s expanding finance and startup ecosystem and the 56 members of FinCity.Tokyo.

INTERVIEW:
Diversifying Japan’s asset management industry through the Emerging Managers Program (EMP)

The Emerging Managers Program (EMP) operated and promoted by FinCity.Tokyo is an innovative initiative aimed at supporting the market entry of a wide variety of asset management firms. The programme is now attracting attention as a key initiative to revitalize Japan’s asset management ecosystem. Shotaro Murai and Misaki Shoji, project managers at FinCity.Tokyo, give us the details.

Read the full interview here

SUCCESS STORY:
Eurazeo launches Tokyo office, eyeing growth in Japan

Eurazeo, a global investment firm with over €35 billion in AUM across private equity, private debt, and real assets, recently opened a Tokyo office with business launch support from FinCity.Tokyo’s Attraction U Project. Ken Hu, Director, Business Development and Investor Relations, explains the firm’s plans for Japan.

Read the full interview here

EVENTS

FinCity.Tokyo will host a high-level conference on transition finance in London, in cooperation with City of London, TheCityUK and Jiji Press. Featuring several high-profile speakers, the event aims to showcase Japan’s framework, policy levers and private-sector activities in transition finance, and explore how the UK and Japan can support each other to advance it as a tool to achieve net-zero targets. The main conference will be followed by themed roundtables to explore business opportunities for companies in the two countries.

More on this event here

KEY STORIES IN JAPANESE MEDIA

• Government Unveils Basic Policy Framework: Promoting Regional Revitalization for Growth-Oriented Economy (NHK, May 26)
  The government has outlined its 2025 Basic Policy Framework. The plan aims to achieve a growth-oriented economy driven by wage increases, while promoting regional revitalization and mobilizing comprehensive policies to support small and medium-sized enterprises in maintaining wage increases that exceed inflation rates.
• TSE President Iwanaga: “Growth Market Potential to be Evaluated with Securities Companies” (Nikkei, May 22)
  Moriyuki Iwanaga, President of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, announced at the startup event “B Dash Camp” in Sapporo on May 22 that the TSE will collaborate with securities companies to evaluate companies’ growth potential as part of Growth Market reforms.
• Dialogue Between Outside Directors and Investors Doubles in Three Years: NEC, Itochu Among Participants (Nikkei, May 22)
  The number of companies facilitating dialogue between outside directors and investors has increased, with 48% of major companies with market capitalization over 500 billion yen implementing such practices in 2024, double the figure from three years ago. Companies like NEC and Itochu Corporation are engaging in these dialogues, viewing them as a new approach to enhance corporate governance and management transparency while improving the effectiveness of outside directors.
• Vol.3 The Evolution of FinTech in Japan (Nikkin, June 1)
  While the Japanese government is promoting household asset formation through expanded NISA programs as part of its asset income doubling plan, many people remain hesitant due to lack of knowledge and uncertainty. Solutions utilizing FinTech, generative AI, and AI agents are being explored to address these challenges.

KEY STORIES IN INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

• Japan finally ignites foreign investor interest after decade-long governance push (Nikkei Asia, June 9)
  A decade after the Corporate Governance Code was adopted, Japan’s stock market is attracting substantial overseas interest. Foreign investors are increasingly drawn by Japanese companies’ greater emphasis on shareholder returns and improved management practices.
• Japan’s ruling party aims for 1,000 trillion yen nominal GDP in 2040, PM Ishiba says (Reuters, June 9)
  Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba instructed ruling Liberal Democratic Party executives to include the goal of achieving 1,000 trillion yen ($6.94 trillion) in nominal GDP in 2040 in a party election pledge.
• Japan Pension Funds Holding $400 Billion Hire Their First CIOs (Bloomberg, June 10)
  Three of Japan’s public-sector funds have established positions equivalent to CIO in the last few months. Experts say the appointment of individuals with deep investment expertise, rather than conventional administrative executives, shows growing awareness of the need to enhance investment capabilities in Japan.
• Japan enacts law obliging firms to join CO2 emissions trading system (The Mainichi, May 28)
  Japan’s parliament enacted a law obliging major firms producing 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide or more a year to participate in a carbon emissions trading system to be introduced in the fiscal year starting April 2026.

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