San’in Godo Bank collaborates with NTT Data and Securitize Japan to explore tokenized regional financing methods

San-in Godo Bank announced that it has partnered with IT services company NTT Data and digital security infrastructure provider Securitize Japan to jointly develop a tokenized securities platform, starting with research into the feasibility of regional financing through on-chain bond issuance. The three parties will first examine whether the regional bank can issue its own bond-type security tokens and sell them directly to investors, with the aim of launching within fiscal year 2026.

The planned issuance is expected to be conducted via a private placement, with a scale reaching hundreds of millions of yen, and an investment minimum starting from only tens of thousands of yen, mainly targeting individual investors. If successful, this will mark the first time that a Japanese regional bank has issued tokenized bonds. The bank then plans to extend this infrastructure to its corporate clients and other small- and medium-sized businesses in the region.

Digital corporate bonds digitize the traditional issuance process and record ownership on a distributed ledger, thereby simplifying holder management and administrative procedures. This structure is well suited for small-scale retail distribution: traditional bonds issued through securities companies typically require a total issuance of at least 1 billion yen, with a minimum lot size of 1 million yen, whereas tokenized bonds can be issued in amounts of several hundred million yen, and unit prices as low as several tens of thousands of yen.

This initiative also aligns with official policy. Tokyo’s financial industry growth strategy, finalized at the end of July, explicitly states that supporting fundraising through capital markets is vital for the growth of core regional businesses, and it is expected that the Financial Services Agency will encourage other regional lending institutions to undertake similar initiatives. San-in Godo Bank estimates that around 10 client companies require a combined several tens of billions of yen in funding each year, with individual issuances ranging from several hundred million to 1 billion yen—far below the typical scale of traditional bond issuances.

For retail investors, the main convenience lies in the ability to purchase and redeem bonds via their existing bank accounts, without the need to open a securities account. Issuers, in turn, can obtain real-time ownership information, allowing them to offer benefits such as product discounts or event tickets to bondholders—this model is expected to be adopted by local sports teams seeking engagement with fans through tokenized tools.

Riding the Major Trend: Launching a New Platform to Serve SMEs and Municipalities

In addition to the bank’s own issuance plans, the consortium also intends to integrate Securitize’s digital securities platform with NTT Data’s Chigin Kyodo Center (a core banking system shared by 13 regional banks), ultimately enabling other lenders in the network to also issue tokenized bonds. The infrastructure also aims to support municipal bond issuances; once regulations permit digital local government bonds from April 2027 onward, the move is intended to expand the investor base, which currently mainly comprises elderly asset holders.

San-in Godo Bank’s move reflects the growing trend of Japanese companies issuing bonds directly without securities company intermediaries. In August this year, Toyota Financial Services announced a 1 billion yen digital bond targeting retail investors, with a minimum subscription of 100 thousand yen. In addition to the standard coupon, investors would receive electronic money from the Toyota Group as rewards. This issuance used BOOSTRY’s infrastructure. BOOSTRY is a Tokyo-based platform supported by Nomura Holdings. BOOSTRY not only supported Toyota's bond issuance, but is also expanding its digital bond services to large corporates with strong brands and mature economic ecosystems, including retail, payment, and transportation companies.

For small- and medium-sized businesses previously put off by underwriting fees and administrative burdens, tokenized offerings provide a lower-cost, more flexible financing channel—if the regional bank shared platform model proves feasible, Japan's local lending market may see a wave of similar platforms emerging.