Making a payment in the most populated city in the world can be surprisingly difficult. For the 37 million people living in Tokyo, and the 15.2 million inbound travellers who visited the city in 2019 before the pandemic, the primary payment method was cash. Indeed, the Tokyo tourism board advises international travellers to carry cash at all times. In a world rapidly embracing frictionless payments and real-time transactions, the hi-tech city looks strangely old fashioned.
In recognition of the challenges faced across the banking and finance spaces, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government launched the Tokyo Financial Award (TFA) to encourage innovation in financial products and services.
