Lawson Bank Launches Operations

October 15, 2018

Tokyo- Lawson Bank, a unit of major Japanese convenience store operator Lawson Inc., launched its services on Monday, trying to catch up with peers affiliated with rival retailers.

Lawson Bank accepts account-opening applications from customers through smartphone apps or other means. It obtained a banking business license in August.

The new bank needs to offer unique and original services to lure clients and better compete with Seven Bank <8410>, affiliated with Seven & i Holdings Co. , and Aeon Bank, a unit of Aeon Co., analysts said.

"We want to be a bank closest to customers," Lawson Bank President Masashi Yamashita has said.

As a campaign event to mark its launch, Lawson Bank is providing customers using its automated teller machines installed at Lawson stores with discount coupons for "Karaage-kun" chicken nuggets, a popular item of the convenience store chain.

Lawson Bank also plans to utilize its ATMs to promote its cooperation with local shopping malls by issuing discount vouchers, for example.

For the time being, fees paid by customers using its ATMs, totaling some 13,000 across Japan, will be the bank's main revenue source.

Lawson Bank aims to offer low-cost cashless payment services by establishing its own settlement infrastructure, instead of using a credit payment system that requires retailers to pay commission fees to credit card companies.

Seven Bank launched its operations in 2001, when it was called IYBank. It now has some 24,000 ATMs, including those installed at places other than convenience stores run by Seven-Eleven Japan Co., a Seven & i subsidiary.

Aeon Bank, which opened in 2007, operates some 6,000 ATMs, fewer than for Lawson Bank. But it offers a wide range of services, including housing loans and insurance consultations, at branches set up at Aeon shopping malls. Jiji Press