Sakura Bank, Toshiba Corp., Mitsui & Co. and a Singapore telecommunications firm announced Tuesday that they will team up to offer e-commerce services to businesses.
The three Japanese companies have agreed to set up a joint venture with bex.com of Singapore to begin services as early as April, the officials said. The venture will allow businesses to offer and settle business transactions online.
The four-company joint venture, called NBEXCO, is capitalized at 2 billion yen and will have 20 staff. It will aim to acquire 350 corporate clients in the first year of operations, the officials said.
The Singapore company will hold a majority stake in the venture while the rest will be divided among the other three companies. The venture will first provide the services to clients of Sakura Bank and Sumitomo Bank, Sakura's merger partner. They include home appliance and communications equipment manufacturers, as well as food producers, trading houses and their parts and raw materials suppliers.
Retailers to which the finished products are shipped will also be included, Sakura officials said. bex.com has been providing similar services in Singapore and Taiwan and plans to launch similar services in Europe and the U.S. by the end of this year.
NBEX users will have access to international networks, which will allow them to settle transactions with firms overseas, the officials said. After Sakura Bank and Sumitomo Bank merge in the spring of 2002, the new bank will continue to run Sakura's share of the firm.