GMO-PG Invests in Valuedesign, Japan's Biggest Prepaid Card System Provider Invested in Value Design, Japan's largest ^(*1) prepaid card issuance and management company
~Aiming to build a new prepaid scheme to promote cashless payments in Japan~

GMO Internet Group's comprehensive payment-related services and finance-related services GMO Payment Gateway, Inc. (TSE Part: Securities Code: 3769, President & Chief Executive Officer: Issei Ainoura hereinafter referred to as "GMO-PG") announced on Thursday, June 30, 2016 that We invested in Value Design Co., Ltd. (President & Chief Executive Officer: Toru Onoe, hereinafter referred to as "Value Design"), which is engaged in the issuance and management business of prepaid cards and prepaid electronic money.
In the future, GMO-PG aims to build a new prepaid scheme by utilizing the know-how of both companies to promote cashless payments in Japan.
(*1) Based on the number of stores using the house prepaid card system as an ASP-type service
Source: ICT Research Institute, "February 2015 Survey on the House Prepaid Card Market"

In recent years, in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the public and private sectors have been working together to promote cashless ^{payment (*2)} Against this background, prepaid cards, which, unlike credit cards, do not require credit and can be owned by anyone, are attracting attention. The number of users is increasing due to the merit of earning incentives such as points, and the size of the prepaid card market in Japan in 2015 is expected to be about 8 trillion yen (up 20.8% from the previous year), and it is expected to reach about 16 trillion yen in 2020 ^(*3).​
Types of prepaid cards include "house-type prepaid cards" that are limited to the stores and facilities of the company and its own group, "brand prepaid cards" that come with international credit card brands, and "online prepaid cards" that are used to manage and payment balances online, download music, purchase game points, etc. There is a growing need among businesses in various industries to introduce "contactless IC cards" such as transportation IC cards, which are used to improve the repeat rate of existing customers, acquire new customers, and improve convenience in the payment scene.
However, it is not easy for businesses to issue prepaid cards because it involves new construction work, such as service design, development of payment environment such as terminal installation, system connection, and balance management.

Against this backdrop, Value Design provides the Value Card ASP Service, a prepaid card issuance system that provides one-stop support for the services necessary for the introduction of prepaid cards, and has introduced more than 48,000 stores in Japan and overseas, the largest number of Actual in the industry, with an annual transaction volume of 100 billion yen.
GMO-PG, on the other hand, is developing Online Payment Service services for merchants mainly e-commerce businesses and public fund payment services for public entity, and has strengths in payment services.

Against this backdrop, GMO-PG invested in Value Design, believing that there would be many synergies in the businesses developed by both companies. In the future, we will leverage Value Design's know-how in issuing and introducing prepaid cards, the strength of having many customers in real stores, and the strength of GMO-PG's payment service capabilities and the strength of having many customers, mainly e-commerce businesses, to expand our existing business in online payment field as well as to provide online payment for prepaid cards. We aim to build a new prepaid scheme that promotes cashless payments in Japan, such as services that utilize smartphones.
(*2) Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on December 26, 2014 Slide: http://www.meti.go.jp/press/2014/12/20141226003/20141226003.pdf
(*3) Source: Card Wave / electronic payment Research Institute / Yamamoto International Consultants "electronic payment Directory 2015-2016"

We provide comprehensive payment-related services to 67,921 merchants (as of March 2016 of the GMO-PG Group), including online businesses such as online shops and digital content, businesses that charge monthly fees such as NHK and subscription, and public entity stores such as the Japan Pension Service and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
With a focus on payment services, we provide value-added services such as web advertising services that contribute to improving the sales of merchants, finance-related services such as loans to support the growth of merchants from the financial side, and overseas businesses such as the provision of overseas payment services, with an annual Transaction value of more than 1.8 trillion yen.
GMO-PG aims to provide a safe and convenient payment for consumers and businesses, and to become the infrastructure for the payment process. As a leading company in the payment industry, we will continue to lead new innovations such as FinTech and contribute to improving the EC ratio of Japan.

Value Design

URL : http://valuedesign.jp/

GMO-PG (Company Profile)

URL :https://corp.gmo-pg.com/en/

GMO-PG (Service)

URL :https://www.gmo-pg.com/en/