Rakuten sees growing interest in digital banking

• Japan’s Rakuten Group is growing its banking customer base
• It is also gaining traction, albeit slowly, for its mobile services    
• It’s all part of the customer loyalty strategy that Rakuten is also pitching to other companies, such as Veon

Japan’s digital and communications services giant Rakuten Group has now signed up 18 million customers for its digital banking service, Rakuten Bank. 

This is worth noting because of the broader Rakuten strategy to develop a portfolio of services, including connectivity from Rakuten Mobile (which now boasts more than 10 million customers) that can be used in tandem with each other to create an integrated customer experience and improve customer loyalty by offering preferential service combinations (something that is absolutely critical in extremely competitive markets, such as Japan). 

As Rakuten itself notes in this announcement, “Rakuten Bank aims to provide customers with greater convenience and value not only through its own services but also by strengthening collaborations with other Rakuten Group services… Rakuten Mobile subscribers who hold a Rakuten Bank account [are now] eligible for a maximum interest rate of 0.64% per annum (0.509% per annum after tax), more than double the standard interest rate, positioning it as a highly competitive offering in the market.” 

This integrated approach is something that clearly interests Veon, which is developing an increasingly broad range of digital services, as Rakuten Symphony is working with Beeline Uzbekistan, Veon’s digital operator in Uzbekistan, to establish a “framework to explore collaboration focused on areas including network deployment, optimisation and development, and digital services, leveraging Rakuten’s software stack and platform expertise.”

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV