The Asian Development Bank's annual meeting in Delhi in May saw a new president take the helm, but it was the policies of his home country – Japan – that dominated proceedings.

Mobile money, including banking and payments, is encroaching into the everyday life of the consumer. Monetising the business is still proving difficult, but thanks to the abundance of products available already, tangible business models are slowly emerging.

A new prime minister and Bank of Japan governor, both apparently working in concert, could signal sustained weakness for the yen. But there are some tough psychological barriers to breach.

Tokyo Stock Exchange’s chief information officer talks about implementing the bourse’s cash equities trading platform, a long process that has brought with it many challenges.

Tighter bank financing, falling government subsidies and rising US shale gas production are all putting the squeeze on the renewable energy industry.

The wave of international expansions by Japan's banks and corporations in the past year suggest that the country's economy, which has long been struggling to recover from its financial crisis in the 1990s, has finally returned to strength. But Japan is still grappling with domestic difficulties, among them, low growth, large public debt and a mounting energy bill.

The Swiss National Bank has been the most aggressive central bank in a developed economy when it comes to seeking to stop its safe haven status from driving excessive currency appreciation, but many other such institutions are using other, more varied techniques.

Japan boasts a more mature and stable economy than its fast-growing Asian neighbours, and the country's vice-minister of finance for international affairs hopes that the country's role as a leading practitioner of financial diplomacy in the region is backed up by its banks.