GMO Payment gateway, Inc. will provide the payment platform "Ginko Pay" (ginko: the Japanese word for bank) - previously called "Smartphone Payment Service Linked with Bank Accounts" - to Japan Post Bank Co., Ltd. The Japan Post Bank plans to deliver its own smartphone payment service called "Yucho Pay" based on the Ginko Pay platform targeting a February 2019 release.

Through Ginko Pay, when shopping at merchants^*1, account holders of any of the banks that are using the platform can pay via immediate direct debit using a smartphone app. The Ginko Pay service will be available across many different banks and regions, with payments currently being accepted at merchants of the Bank of Yokohama and the Bank of Fukuoka under the Fukuoka Financial Group (hereinafter called "Fukuoka FG"). Kumamoto Bank and Shinwa Bank of Fukuoka FG, three banks in the Resona Group (Resona Bank, Saitama Resona Bank, and Kinki Osaka Bank), and the Japan Post Bank are also set to provide the service.

*1 Merchants that have signed an agreement to use Ginko Pay with any of these banks

Even with the recent global spread of cashless payments, in Japan, cashless payments only made up 20% of all payments in 2016, relatively low compared to other countries. This has pushed the government to undertake various initiatives^*2 in order to raise this to approximately 40% by 2025. Under such an environment, Japan's banks and other financial institutions are exploring new business opportunities with the aim of further promoting the use of cashless payments.

In an effort to support these financial institutions with their promotion of cashless payment, GMO-PG introduced the Ginko Pay payment platform which is linked to bank accounts and allows for immediate direct debiting as well as other functionality. The following financial institutions (see【Ginko Pay】) have already introduced or plan to introduce the platform.
GMO-PG has now decided to provide the platform of the said service to the Japan Post Bank. They plan to release "Yucho Pay", their own smartphone payment service based on the platform in February 2019.

*2 METI. (April 2018) "Cashless vision"

Ginko Pay is a smartphone payment service that was jointly-developed^*3 by the Bank of Yokohama and GMO-PG in 2016. The service allows for payments via immediate direct debit as well as other methods. It is GMO-PG that delivers the platform system. To use Ginko Pay, a user needs to have a bank account at any of the banks that use the service, download its user app and register his/her account in advance of shopping at merchants. When shopping, the user only needs to read a QR code on a tablet terminal or a smartphone of the merchant, or to "check in" to the payment recipient and enter PIN to complete payment.
Financial institutions can provide Ginko Pay as their own smartphone payment service that is interoperable ("multi-bank"), that is, not limited to certain banks or regions.

The following financial institutions have introduced or are scheduled to introduce the service.

*3 GMO-PG. (October 5, 2016) "A First for Japanese Banks: GMO-PG Jointly Develops Smartphone Payment Services linked with Accounts at Bank of Yokohama"
（URL： https://corp.gmo-pg.com/en/newsroom/pdf/161005_gmo_pg_en.pdf ）