SMBC Group and CCC Group Announce Basic Agreement on Capital and Business Alliance

2022.10.03 Press Releases
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. / Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co., Ltd. / Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. / CCCMK Holdings Co., Ltd.

- Aiming to create one of Japan's largest payment and points economic zones -

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (President and Group CEO: Jun Ota, hereinafter "SMFG"; collectively referred to as "SMBC Group"), Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, Limited (President and CEO: Yukihiko Onishi, hereinafter "Sumitomo Mitsui Card"), Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. (President and CEO: Muneaki Masuda, hereinafter "CCC"; collectively referred to as "CCC Group"), and CCCMK Holdings Co., Ltd. (President and CEO: Yoshinori Takahashi, hereinafter "CCCMKHD") have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding regarding a capital and business alliance between SMBC Group and CCC Group.

The memorandum of understanding will set out the basic policies and other necessary matters for considering capital and business alliances. The contract setting out the final terms of the capital and business alliance will be concluded once the two groups have agreed on the details of the alliance. If any matters requiring disclosure arise, they will be promptly announced.

Furthermore, each capital and business alliance will be implemented within the scope of applicable laws and regulations, and if any procedures required by laws and regulations are required, they will be implemented only after those procedures have been completed.

1. Purpose and Overview of the Basic Agreement

With the advancement of cashless transactions and the spread of smartphones, "points" have become increasingly important in the payment business and in our daily lives as a mechanism for strengthening contact and communication between businesses and users.

Amidst these changing circumstances, SMBC Group, which owns Sumitomo Mitsui Card, a leading company in cashless payments, and CCC Group, which established the first de facto standard for shared points in Japan and has a membership base of 70 million T-Points users, have concluded a memorandum of understanding on a capital and business alliance with the aim of building the most popular points brand and one of Japan's largest payment and points economies, and providing more advantageous, convenient, and highly valued services to members, affiliated stores, and other customers of both groups.

As part of the business alliance, the two companies will discuss integrating the point businesses of Sumitomo Mitsui Card and CCCMKHD and creating a new point brand that combines V Points and T Points.

As part of the capital alliance, in order to realize joint operation of the payment and points businesses, the two companies will hold discussions to turn CCCMKHD into a joint venture company between the SMBC Group and the CCC Group, with CCC holding a target of 60% of the shares and the SMBC Group holding the remaining 40%.

The capital and business alliance agreement, which will be the final contract of the basic agreement, is scheduled to be concluded by December 31, 2022.

2. Integration of point brands and point businesses

V Points, which began service as a shared point system for the SMBC Group in June 2020, boasts the versatility of allowing accumulated points to be used at Visa member stores around the world, and continues to expand its economic sphere as cashless transactions progress.

On the other hand, "T Points" has 70 million members after name matching and is used at 150,000 affiliated stores (over 5,000 point partner companies). Its strength is that points can be earned and used by presenting a T Card/Mobile T Card with any payment method, including cashless payments and cash payments.

The two companies have now reached a basic agreement to combine the strengths of their respective groups and significantly improve the ease of earning and using each point system, with a view to launching a new point service.

In addition to being able to accumulate points by using Sumitomo Mitsui Card after the integration, the two companies will also partner in the cashless payment field, such as recruiting Sumitomo Mitsui Card as an official card through the T Point app and website, and will also consider new services such as mobile payments that combine "points" and "payments" to allow customers to accumulate even more points.

We are carefully discussing the specific services that will be provided after the integration to ensure that the integration does not cause any disadvantages or inconveniences to customers who use both points. We will announce the details as soon as they are decided.

◆ Company overview

(1) SMBC Group

(2) CCC Group

End

Materials related to this matter

SMBC Group and CCC Group Announce Basic Agreement on Capital and Business Alliance

Inquiries regarding this matter
Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. Public Relations Office
TEL: 03-6800-4464
MAIL: inquiry@ccc.co.jp