The Japanese payments landscape is uniform and lacks global competition. With the trend towards mergers and acquisitions and increasing globalization, this environment will shift over time.

In the report Payment Systems Trends in Japan, Part I: Financial Market Infrastructure Trends in Japan and Around The World, Celent examines the current situation and future outlook for the Japanese market in light of recent changes in Europe.

“The global payments system offers a borderless, regionally integrated regulatory and competitive framework that encourages innovation among payment service providers,” says Eiichiro Yanagawa, Senior Analyst with Celent’s Asian Financial Services Group and author of the report. “In contrast to the dramatic changes in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region remains calm for now.”

This report, the first of two, proposes a conceptual framework for payment systems in Japan. The report provides an overview of global payment trends, reviewing the history of Japan’s payments system and concluding with an evaluation of the performance measures in place at the time of the financial crisis and an outlook for the future.

Part 2 explores the next-generation Bank of Japan Net (BOJ-NET) Funds Transfer System, discussing national initiatives to build a sustainable and robust payments system in addition to looking at payment services providers.