Payment Systems in Japan

The Zengin System is a nationwide electronic fund transfer network mainly for the customer payments. Almost all the financial institutions in Japan, approximately 1,400 institutions, participate in the Zengin System. As most of the payments made through the System are the consumer and commercial payments, the transaction volumes are huge, while the amount of each payment is rather small. In addition to the single payments, the Zengin System also supports the batch payments, such as the payroll and pension payments. The Zengin System is a DTNS system, where the final settlement of the net positions takes place at the end of the day. The Zengin System is planned to be upgraded to the sixth generation system in November 2011. The details of new mechanisms of the six generation system are described in the chapter.