Smart Bank

About Smart Bank

Smart Bank, Inc. is a Japanese fintech company that provides the "OneBank" (formerly B/43) service, a household financial management application linked with a Visa prepaid card. The service aims to simplify expense tracking by automatically recording transactions made with the card in the app in real-time.

The company was founded in April 2019 by CEO Shota Horii, his twin brother and CTO Yuta Horii, and CXO Jun "takejune" Taketani. This is the second venture for the founding team, who previously created Fablic, the company behind Japan's first flea market app, "Fril" (now Rakuten's Rakuma). After selling Fablic to Rakuten in 2016 and serving a transition period, they identified a gap in the Japanese market for modern, user-friendly financial management tools, particularly as the country moves towards increased cashless transactions. This led to the creation of Smart Bank to solve the problem of complex expense management.

Smart Bank's core product, OneBank, combines a household budget app with a chargeable Visa prepaid card. Users load a budget onto the card, and all payments are instantly reflected in the app, eliminating the need for manual expense entry. The platform offers several card types to cater to different user segments. The "My Card" is for individuals, while the "Pair Card" is designed for couples and partners to manage shared expenses from a joint account, a feature not commonly offered by traditional Japanese banks. There is also a "Junior Card" for children, allowing parents to provide allowances and monitor spending. The business model includes revenue from subscriptions, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services, and referral fees.

The app has surpassed one million downloads and recently expanded its features to include integration with external credit cards and bank accounts, allowing users to consolidate all their financial activities in one place. Smart Bank is also developing an AI assistant service that uses generative AI to analyze spending habits and provide personalized financial advice to help users reduce unnecessary spending and create surplus funds. The company holds licenses for money transfers and prepaid payment instruments, distinguishing it from competitors by allowing it to hold user deposits and facilitate payments.