Japan’s top online securities firms are increasing their share of the investment trust market at the expense of banks and traditional brokerages that focused for decades on face-to-face sales.

The popularity of an expanded tax-free investment account program called NISA has encouraged its users — most of whom are in their 40s or younger, according to one report — to do deals on their smartphones and laptops.

That’s led to the share of online brokerages in the publicly offered investment trust market to rise above 20% for the first time at the end of June from about 16% a year earlier, according to estimates by Nomura Research Institute (NRI).