Mizuho Securities, Rakuten Securities Ally on Asset Management Services

Aiming to offer asset management consulting services both online and in person, Tokyo-based Mizuho Securities and Tokyo-based Rakuten Securities Holdings have announced a strategic capital and business alliance.

In the deal, Mizuho Securities is to buy 19.99% of Rakuten Securities Holdings for 80 billion yen (about $552 million), Reuters reported Friday (Oct. 7).

The share transfer is to take place Nov. 1, according to a press release issued Friday (Oct. 7) by both groups’ parent companies: investment bank Mizuho Financial Group and eCommerce and online retailing company Rakuten Group.

Together, Mizuho Securities and Tokyo-based Rakuten Securities Holdings will build a “fully fledged hybrid comprehensive asset management consulting service that meets the needs of all individual customers,” according to the press release.

The companies said in the release that this alliance will pair Mizuho Securities’ product appeal and asset management consulting capabilities with Rakuten Securities’ synergies with the Rakuten ecosystem and its online securities trading platform.

Mizuho Securities offers securities services to large corporate clients, institutional investors, small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and individuals. For the latter, it provides face-to-face consulting services to middle-aged and senior customers, for the most part, the release stated.

Rakuten Securities is an online securities trading platform that attracts a wide range of customers from several generations, including those who have no previous investing experiences, per the release.

“While sharing the strengths and visions of the future of both companies, and as a result of repeated discussions, we shared recognitions that the products, services and channels of both companies have a high level of mutual complementarity,” the companies said in the release.

When it comes to banking, PYMNTS research has found that three out of five consumers are at least somewhat interested in using a digital bank in the next year.

Read more: Study Finds Fewer Than 10% of Consumers Use FinTechs as a Primary Bank

A little more than one-third of consumers are very or extremely interested in doing so, according to “How Consumers Use Digital Banks,” a PYMNTS and Treasury Prime collaboration.