Following Schwab’s and DLJDirect’s plunge into the Japanese brokerage
market, Fujitsu Ltd. and The Nikko Securities Co., Ltd. Wednesday announced
plans for an alliance that will include a joint venture Internet brokerage,
dubbing the company-to-be Japan’s first “introducing broker.”
Both companies expect the combined service provided by the two well-known
names will “thrive amidst the intensified competition of Japan’s Big Bang
financial deregulation.”
The proposed name of the 50/50 joint venture is Internet Trading
Securities. It is expected to launch in January.
The agreement will also involve Fujitsu’s recently announced @nifty online
network service. The site is expected to be rolled out by November. Details
of how @nifty and Nikko subsidiary Nikko Beans will work together for the
brokerage service were not released.
The partnership also calls for the formation of a separate joint venture
company to develop and manage a system for the financial services market.