Rakuten Card’s new CEO has bold plans for Japan’s credit card industry

By Koichi Nakamura, President & CEO of Rakuten’s credit card business, Rakuten Card. Since joining the Rakuten Group in 2004, he has led a variety of Group businesses, including Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten Travel, Rakuten Payment, and Rakuten Asia Pte. Ltd. as Managing Director & CEO.

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The world of payments is constantly evolving. Contactless, QR codes, biometric authentication – when it comes to shopping, consumers have more options at their fingertips than ever before. But amid all of this innovation, one thing has remained consistently at the center of it all: the credit card.

More than a piece of plastic, the credit card is fundamental infrastructure – the protocol that underpins nearly every form of cashless payment. As Japan’s favorite credit card service, we at Rakuten Card see this as both a responsibility and an opportunity to support a digital society with trusted, stable, and adaptable systems.

The anchor of our cashless economy

Over the years, we have swiped, signed, inserted chips, entered PINs, and tapped our phones. But no matter how payments change on the surface, it is the credit card that continues to provide the framework that makes it all work. While the method may change, the protocol – our ability to verify trust, authorize payment, and settle at a later date – remains the same.

Today, many of us rely on our phones to make payments. Whether we’re flashing a QR code, using Apple Pay or Google Pay, or charging our e-money balance, there’s a good chance a card like Rakuten Card is providing the background infrastructure. In many ways, the plastic itself has become less visible, but more essential than ever.

Rakuten Card has issued over 30 million cards to date, and our users’ purchases exceed all other credit card services in Japan by gross transaction value. We firmly believe that the infrastructure we provide is fundamental to Japan’s economy, and we don’t take this responsibility lightly.

Embracing our roots as a service

Rakuten Card, at its core, is more than just a tool to make payments; it’s a service business. And any good service business needs to provide clear value in daily life, while adapting to the evolving needs and expectations of our customers. We’ve been busy introducing greater personalization options for those who want them, while also leveraging the Rakuten Ecosystem to provide incredible added benefits to Rakuten Card Premium Program users. Rakuten Securities users can earn more points on periodic securities purchases and get access to free content on Rakuten Magazine and Rakuten Music. We are also planning additional benefits for Rakuten Mobile this summer.

Making customer support a breeze

But I believe a service lives and dies by its customer support, and this is another area in which we have invested heavily to provide quick, stress-free answers to our customers’ queries. Today, just 1.5% of inquiries from Rakuten Card users require a phone call with an operator – this is among the lowest in the industry. The ratio of chat inquiries to phone calls has more than tripled in just two years to 61%.

One reason for this is our extensive chat support hours, open each day until 1:30 a.m. This is something that very few, if any, card operators in Japan can claim. We also believe that we are one of a small number of companies in Japan to launch an English-language app – another effort towards our goal to be accessible and inclusive.

Cutting corners on service is not the right way to go about increasing profit. I believe that when customers feel real value in what Rakuten Card offers, they will choose to use us more. This is the true key to sustainable growth.

B2C has room to grow; B2B is an open field

At Rakuten Card, we have been working toward a target that we call Triple 3:

• 30 million cards issued (achieved in 2023)
• ¥30 trillion in annual transaction volume (reached ¥24 trillion as of the end of 2024 )
• 30% domestic market share (reached 24.6% as of the end of 2024)

I believe this is a strong foundation. But we still need to set our sights even higher. We want to continue expanding transaction volume and market share while delivering real value to our customers, towards a new medium-term goal of ¥100 billion in annual operating profit – nearly double what we achieved in 2024.

Japan’s consumer payment market is around ¥300 trillion, yet only about a third of this is currently handled through credit cards. Overall, Japan’s cashless adoption rate is hovering around 40%, leaving plenty of room to grow.

But we’re not just limiting ourselves to the B2C market; the business-to-business market is even bigger, turning over more than ¥1,100 trillion yen each year. Of that, less than ¥10 trillion is currently conducted via credit card.

With access to Rakuten’s extensive network of business partners, Rakuten Card stands on the brink of incredible growth potential. It’s no red ocean – it’s an open field.

Scale, service, society

Our mission at Rakuten Card is clear: Continue serving as a fundamental pillar of Japan’s cashless economy; fortify our roots as a provider of excellent service; and expand into new realms of untapped potential.

We want to grow not just in size, but in relevance – in our contribution to society. And the more we scale, the more we can help boost Japan’s presence in the global credit card industry.

The world of payments isn’t going to stop evolving anytime soon. Credit cards may seem old-school, but when you strip away the surface, they’re still the most powerful, flexible, and trusted tool in the cashless economy. They’ve adapted for 60 years and will continue adapting. And Rakuten Card is at the helm of that transformation.