A laggard in embracing the "fintech", or financial technology, revolution, Japan is set to ease investment restrictions that could free up the flow of capital in an economy sitting on an estimated $US9 trillion in individuals' cash deposits. Strict regulation, easy access to credit due to rock-bottom interest rates, and weak demand for innovative financial services from a risk-averse population that still prefers cash to credit cards, have strangled fintech's advance in Japan. Fintech ventures - usually start-ups leveraging technology from cloud data storage to smartphones to ... READ MORE
