Where is Japan Headed?
Where is UPC Headed?

Sometimes I am surprised when acquaintances ask me, “What is a settlement agent?” Now that terms like “cashless,” “mobile settlements,” and “card settlements” are commonplace, I can’t imagine being asked this question.

When I hear this question, however, it becomes an opportunity to rethink what “settlement agent,” this term I use so casually, means. What value do we, who have been in this business for more than two decades, deliver? Expanding the range of my thinking led to the decision, in this 21st year, to avoid the term “settlement agent,” when talking about UNIVA Paycast! Given my assumption that “cashless” was becoming commonplace, I was determined to create new value on that foundation.

Thinking back, it was in 2015 that we decided to move beyond the explosive growth in settlements for Chinese purchases and tourist demand accelerated by our handling Alipay and WeChat and enter the offline domain as well. Then, just as we began to prepare mobile payment apps for other countries, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred… We weren’t alone among firms who suffered because sales depended on inbound business. How could we replace 60 million tourists? What would happen to Japan’s economy going forward? With a shrinking and aging population and tourism a pipe dream?
It was, however, because the times were like that that we arrived at our current thinking.

That is why we at UPC are promoting the following steps to expand Japan’s business in global markets! In our 21st year, UPC decided to promote a project we call “W-Concent.” Based on the idea of not confining our business to settlements and making effective use of mobile devices and apps running on them, W-Concent connects Japanese businesses with users worldwide.

• Use mobile payment apps and services to bring Japanese products to the world.
• Simplify global operations to minimize the effort required to manage this expanded market.
• Use data to address issues arising in efforts to use tourism to spur local creativity.

Whether the target is fans of Japan or fans of Japanese content and products sold both on-and-offline, UPC will connect a world in which those fans are cherished.

Our goal is for a growing variety of Japan-based businesses to achieve global scale. We ask everyone in our group who shares this goal to speak up and share your ideas!

UNIVA Paycast Limited
President and CEO
Shuhei Nakao