MUFG to Eliminate Cash Cards to Combat Cybercrime

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed at 62,188.63 on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, falling 893.23 points, or 1.42%, from the previous trading session as heavy selling in semiconductor and artificial intelligence-related stocks swept through Tokyo markets following the U.S. midterm elections, although a strong afternoon recovery helped the benchmark recover much of its earlier losses.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group plans to eliminate physical cash cards at a new digital bank scheduled to launch by March 2027, introducing smartphone-based cash withdrawals as part of efforts to strengthen cybersecurity following a surge in unauthorized access to corporate systems.

An 18-year-old Japanese cybersecurity expert has uncovered evidence suggesting that the hacker behind a major cyberattack on GMO Internet Group may be operating from Asia, as the company offers a reward of approximately 150 million yen for information leading to the attacker's identification and investigates more than 700 tips received from the public.

A vacant house in Osaka's Ikuno Ward collapsed in October after standing empty for more than a decade, exposing a loophole in Japan's vacant home legislation that prevents authorities from taking action against deteriorating properties when they form part of a row of connected houses still occupied by other residents.

The Bank of Japan has declared that Japan's underlying inflation rate has reached its long-standing 2% target, marking a milestone in its effort to overcome decades of deflation, even as consumers continue to struggle with food prices rising far faster than the central bank's benchmark.

GMO Internet Group President Masatoshi Kumagai apologized at his first press conference following a cyberattack on the company's investor-oriented cloud service, acknowledging that security vulnerabilities had been identified by specialists within the group two years earlier but that the warnings had not been adequately addressed.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 208.25 points, or 0.33%, to close at 63,081.86 at 3:30 p.m. on November 2, extending its losses for a second consecutive trading session as a sharp decline in memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings and continued uncertainty over US technology stocks outweighed gains in semiconductor equipment manufacturers.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index enters trading on November 2 after closing at 63,290.11 on October 30, down 1,369.36 points, or 2.12%, in its final session of October, as selling in artificial intelligence and semiconductor-related stocks raised concerns about the sustainability of the technology-led rally, while investors prepared for a shortened trading week dominated by corporate earnings, monetary policy developments and the US midterm elections.