ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Yoshihisa Suzuki, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has formed a business tie-up with GMO Aozora Net Bank, Ltd. (headquartered in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Takehito Kaneko, Representative Director and Chairman; Takeshi Yamane, Representative Director and President; hereinafter “GMO Aozora Net Bank”) to facilitate the provision of integrated financial services by both companies.

Recently, new ways of working, including freelancing, are attracting attention, driven by the development of the IT infrastructure, the spread of values focusing on work-life balance and the accelerating shift to new normal workstyles with the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, new working patterns such as gig workers*1 and influencers together with new industries are emerging with the growth of online matching and the development of digital media marketing. Given the radical changes taking place in relationships between organizations and people as well as ways of working and ways of earning money, transformation is also needed in financial services that support people's economic activities.

GMO Aozora Net Bank offers new customer-friendly financial and settlement solutions as a leader in digital banking based on its corporate vision of becoming the " All for our customers. Strive to be the No.1 Tech Bank." which the Bank set in July 2018 when it started the internet banking business. The use of these solutions by small businesses, start-ups and sole proprietors as well as individual customers is expanding rapidly as the Bank applies its strength in the in-house production of systems in prices, speed and the enhancement of its service lineup.

ITOCHU has a broad business portfolio in the retail finance area, including Money Communications Inc., which is providing salary prepayment service, Paidy Inc., which operates buy now pay later service, and Pocket Card Co., Ltd., which has a credit card / shopping credit business as its core operation. Based on the business tie-up with GMO Aozora Net Bank, ITOCHU will provide business operators and their customers with the financial services of both companies in an optimized form in collaboration with various business operators who support people practicing new ways of working and ways of earning money, by sharing the service bases and networks of both companies.

<Examples of specific services>
・Compensation prepayment service in which users are able to receive commission fees earlier than usual (ITOCHU)
・Opening of a corporate account for which applications can be made online, paperless and without a seal (GMO Aozora Net Bank)
・Loans and advance payments for the upfront investment necessary for new challenges such as independence or the establishment of business (both companies)

As its first initiative, ITOCHU will aim to realize the provision of the compensation prepayment service, etc. in cooperation with bank accounts, in addition to insurance for freelance engineers that has already been provided with identity Inc., which operates the IT Freelance Consortium, a platform to support advanced IT human resources.

ITOCHU is working on open collaboration with different industries and venture companies to expand the retail finance business. This time, ITOCHU will develop the financial services required in the new normal era based on a market-in approach through a business tie-up with GMO Aozora Net Bank, which has strengths in technology and a banking platform.