Includes special features of this country’s banking system and rules/laws that might impact U.S. business.
Last Published: 9/6/2019

While financial system deregulation and international competitive pressure have drastically changed the face of Japanese banking, the connection between corporate finance and banking institutions and non-financial corporations remains much tighter in Japan than in the United States, and extends far beyond simple lender/borrower relationships. Much corporate banking business is rooted in either business groups with interlocking shareholding (keiretsu) or in regional relationships. Japanese banks are frequently shareholders in companies that conduct banking business with them.

This unique relationship between a company and its bank has been long-standing; until recently, a Japanese company rarely changed its primary lender, although it would occasionally "shop around" for better credit arrangements. Even when credit is loose, companies sometimes borrow more than their need in order to maintain good relations with their bank and to ensure that funds will be available in leaner years. Banks are often large shareholders in publicly traded corporations (although banks are in the process of reducing their total equity holdings), have close relationships with both local governments and national regulatory agencies, and often play a coordinating role among their clients. It remains safe to say that the Japanese commercial bank system is much more relationship-oriented than the transaction-based U.S. system. Japanese banks were able to avoid the direct impact from the global financial crisis due to their limited exposure to structured securities.

While large corporations with suitable credit ratings (especially export-oriented firms) can rely on corporate bond issues rather than banks for financing, bank lending continues to be the primary financing method for small and medium sized companies and for many larger companies as well.

Japanese banks offer regular and time deposits and checking accounts for businesses. Checks are negotiable instruments that are in effect payable to the bearer (rather than to the order of the payee, as in the United States). This limits the usefulness of checks, and in fact, most payments are made by electronic bank transfer (which cost a few hundred yen on average), or by sending cash through the postal system. The banks (and now investment/securities firms) historically waged an uphill battle against the postal savings system for consumer deposits, but now that the postal savings bank must pay taxes and deposit insurance, in addition to losing its implicit government guarantee, competition for deposits has intensified.

Personal checking accounts are almost unknown in Japan. Most individuals use electronic bank transfers to settle accounts. Cash settlement is also very common, and the Post Office has a mechanism for payment by "cash envelope" which is widely used in direct marketing and other applications. Many Japanese banks operate 24-hour cash machines (as do some credit card companies). Bank and other credit cards are easy to obtain and are widely accepted. Some bank credit cards offer revolving credit, but in most cases, balances are paid in full monthly via automatic debiting from bank accounts.

The relationship among trading company, end user and exporter is an important feature of the financing environment in Japan. The Japanese general trading company (sogo shosha) is an integrated, comprehensive organization that embraces a range of functions including marketing and distribution, financing and shipping and the gathering of commercial information. It performs functions that in the United States would be carried out by import/export companies, freight forwarders, banks, law firms, accounting firms and business consultants. Thus, U.S. firms dealing with trading companies should familiarize themselves with the financing capabilities of such firms.

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.