Started joint development of new services with GMO Aozora Net Bank

GarageBank Corporation and GMO Aozora Net Bank, Ltd. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representatives: Taketo Kaneko, Chairman & CEO; Takeshi Yamane, President; hereinafter "GMO Aozora Net Bank") have begun joint discussions on a new service that, by leveraging the banking API — one of GMO Aozora Net Bank's embedded financial services — enables users to assess the value of physical assets in cashari in the same way as financial assets.
The service is targeted for launch around spring 2023, contingent on GarageBank obtaining the necessary licenses, including registration as an Electronic Payment Service Provider.

Background and outline

In recent years, the expansion of flea-market apps, awareness of the SDGs, and rising prices have driven greater interest in reuse and vintage trading, raising focus on physical assets. However, physical assets are harder to value than financial assets and difficult to manage at a glance, leaving challenges in turning them into liquidity when needed.

To address these challenges in liquidating physical assets, the two companies will jointly explore a new service that connects GMO Aozora Net Bank's banking API — one of its embedded financial services — to GarageBank's cashari app, enabling unified management of physical and financial assets, which has been difficult to achieve to date.

Comments from each company's representative

Yoshihito Yamamoto, Representative Director and CEO, GarageBank Corporation
At GarageBank, we define the everyday physical assets that people own as "movable assets" and promote the use of their value. While leveraging movable assets is also important from an SDGs perspective, our customers tell us that, with no unified value standard, these assets are harder to grasp than financial assets and that handling them is a challenge — a situation we have been determined to improve.
By adopting GMO Aozora Net Bank's embedded financial-services API for cashari, we are starting development of a new service that removes the boundary between movable and financial assets and offers a new asset-utilization experience to our customers.
We will continue to make the flow of "people, goods, and money" smoother and accelerate our work in support of more people taking on new challenges.

Taketo Kaneko, Chairman & CEO, GMO Aozora Net Bank, Ltd.
We are delighted that our embedded financial services will be used in GarageBank's cashari, supporting end users with new value and a customer experience built around the unified management of physical and financial assets. The two companies will continue to deliberate on the new service and work to provide new value to society.

Press release

Original press release: https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000013.000056512.html

Inquiries

GarageBank Corporation, Public Relations: Aoki
Email: pr@garagebank.co.jp