It has been a long time since “FinTech”, which introduces technology into finance and transforms the financial industry with technology, has begun to attract attention. However, it is unlikely that ordinary people will feel “dramatically changed” while living normally.

However, FinTech is deeply rooted in the financial industry in Japan and around the world, and is definitely making the world convenient.

Therefore, in this article, we will explain how FinTech has changed the “money infrastructure” and then confirm the problems of FinTech.

What is a robot advisor that robots manage assets?

”One of the changes that can be said to be “very FinTech-like” is asset management support by robots. Its name is also Robot Advisor, commonly known as Roboad.

AI makes investment decisions and achieves + 11.1{5f3ac39ba1b9031997b955ac72c92bb5456d725b06fa10f02cdda1ab745591c7}

One of the fintechs that the Nihon Keizai Shimbun has paid attention to is the Roboad “RoboPro” from Forio Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo), an IT venture established in 2015 (* 1, 2).

RoboPro predicts movements such as stock prices with AI (artificial intelligence) and teaches investors the stocks that are likely to generate profits.

Folio has announced that RoboPro’s global investment performance from January 15, 2020 to August 31, 2020 was up 11.1{5f3ac39ba1b9031997b955ac72c92bb5456d725b06fa10f02cdda1ab745591c7}. Folio’s official website (* 3) that informs that RoboPro’s performance performance was a positive 11.1{5f3ac39ba1b9031997b955ac72c92bb5456d725b06fa10f02cdda1ab745591c7}.

画像引用：https://folio-sec.com/robopro

If we were to invest 1 million yen as suggested by RoboPro, it would have been 1.11 million yen in about 8 months. This is a pretty attractive result.

RoboPro’s investment targets include US stocks, other developed country stocks, emerging market stocks, US government bonds, and gold.

AI keeps watching and remembering 40 indicators without sleeping

RoboPro’s AI watches over 40 market prices of stocks, bonds, currencies (exchanges), crude oil, copper, etc. around the world and makes investment proposals. This investment proposal method is the same as for fund managers and market analysts, but the amount of data to watch is an order of magnitude different.

Since the computer equipped with AI is tireless, you can keep observing more than 40 markets 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Moreover, I will never forget AI. In other words, when making an investment proposal from 40 indicators, always consider the 40 indicators before making a decision.

Keep in mind, however, that Folio may lose money by believing in RoboPro’s judgment, and there is no guarantee that the positive 11.1{5f3ac39ba1b9031997b955ac72c92bb5456d725b06fa10f02cdda1ab745591c7} result will be reproducible in the future.

（※1） Securities FinTech, behind the scenes Reorganization due to struggle for individuals
（※2）Company Profile | FOLIO Co., Ltd.
（※3）FOLIO ROBO PRO

You can easily invest in stocks on your smartphone

You can really feel the benefits of FinTech by investing in stocks using only smartphones.

With the advent of Internet securities, stock investment can be bought and sold without having to place a buy or sell order with a sales representative of a securities company. This is also a kind of fintech, but smartphone stock investment can be said to be a further evolution of this.

LINE, which has the most users in Japan, has also entered the market

LINE, which you are all familiar with, is expanding into smartphone stock investment (* 4). The feature of this LINE securities is that you can invest from a few hundred yen per share.

In the case of general stock investment, when you buy stock, you have to buy at least “1 unit”. For example, one unit of Toyota Motor Corporation is 100 shares. The stock price of Toyota Motor Corporation is about 6,000 to 8,000 yen per share, so if you want to buy Toyota Motor Corporation, you have to invest at least 600,000 to 800,000 yen. This limits the number of people who can participate in the investment.

However, if you use LINE Securities, you can buy “Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. worth hundreds of yen” just by operating your smartphone.

This was possible because we were able to manage large amounts of data in considerable detail by making full use of technologies such as IT, the Internet, the cloud, and smartphone apps.

High cost performance

And at LINE Securities, the commission for buying stocks is set to 0 yen. Other Internet securities charge a fee for buying stocks.

However, the commission for selling the stocks you hold may be lower for other Internet securities than for LINE securities (* 4).

The reason why the usage fee for smartphone stock investment such as LINE Securities is cheap is that the operating cost of the FinTech system is low.
The low fees, the ability to make ultra-low investments, and the fact that the operation is completed with just a smartphone are great benefits for those who are interested in investing but have not been able to take the first step. prize.

(* 4) LINE Securities Official Page

How does the country view FinTech? What’s the problem?

The Government of Japan welcomes the FinTech process in principle. The Financial Services Agency published the “FinTech Innovation Hub Activity Report” in 2019, stating the following (* 6).

• As financial services change dynamically due to FinTech, it is important to promote the movement of innovation.
• Understand the latest trends and situations regarding FinTech and use it for future financial administration.

However, since FinTech is a “new convenient tool”, issues are highlighted in how to use it.

The issue of gamestop stock volatility that occurred in January 2021 in the United States caused a number of individual investors who browsed Internet bulletin boards to fight together and plunged the market into primary turmoil (* 7). The service used here was a smartphone securities service.

It was FinTech’s power that allowed many people to take the same action all at once just by calling on the bulletin board. Thus, excessive convenience can be a double-edged sword.

（※6）Fintech Innovation Hub Activity Report
（※7）GameStop Stock Fluctuation, US Justice Ministry Investigate Fraud US Report

Summary-It is required to use it wisely and

I introduced it as a “double-edged sword,” but FinTech is just a knife.

Even with cooking knives and cutter knives for crafting, cutlery is an indispensable tool in daily life. However, you will be injured if you slide your hand just a little.

The same applies to FinTech. Because of its convenience, you will never be able to return to finance without FinTech, but the more convenient it is, the more frequently you will use it, so the damage caused by “tit for tat” when used incorrectly will be enormous.

From the above, FinTech needs to be used wisely and carefully.