Fintech combines the financial sector with the latest digital technology. Infcurion Consulting, one of the companies within the Infcurion Group, is a consulting firm that supports the introduction of fintech across a wide range of industries and businesses, helping to create new services and ventures, and working toward “the digitization of currency and value exchange.”
The company’s mission is “Making yesterday’s impossible possible, starting with payments,” and its vision is “More freedoms for the world of tomorrow.” Through the use of fintech, the company aims to seamlessly connect finance with diverse fields — enabling the creation of new businesses that were previously unachievable, accelerating society’s evolution, and bringing a variety of freedoms and new value to the world. We spoke with Representative Director and President Hiroki Maruyama about the background to the company’s founding and the passion he brings to the business.
Hiroki Maruyama
After graduating from the Faculty of Business and Commerce at Keio University, he joined JCB Co., Ltd. Following time in credit management and marketing divisions, he joined as a founding member of the new business development and M&A division. He founded Infcurion in 2006 and is responsible for the group’s management strategy and new business development. In 2015, he established the Fintech Association of Japan as a general incorporated association, assuming the role of Representative Director and Chairman, and contributed to the industry’s development and legislative reform. In 2018, he was appointed Director of the Cashless Promotion Consortium, a general incorporated association, contributing to Japan’s cashless promotion from both operational and policy perspectives.
In the Midst of Finance’s “Evolution” — Wanting to Be a Player, Not a Bystander
— President Maruyama, after joining JCB as a new graduate, you went on to found Infcurion. Could you tell us what led you to make that decision?
From the time I joined JCB, I had a strong conviction that “the world of payments is going to change dramatically — and I want to be part of something new in the middle of that change.” At the time, the internet was evolving rapidly, e-commerce and global transactions were beginning to expand, and the movement of money was shifting — alongside offline cash transactions, online payments were on the rise.
Shopping on the internet, buying things with electronic money, paying with a mobile phone — all of these are tremendously convenient technologies. I believed that once these technologies entered mainstream circulation, that momentum would be irreversible — and in fact, that wave was already beginning. Standing in the midst of that change, I became convinced that, just as the world had once shifted from barter to monetary economies, money and payments themselves were about to “evolve” fundamentally. And I knew I wanted to be a player in that evolution — not a spectator.
— All four of your co-founders were JCB employees. Did you ever consider starting a new venture within JCB rather than leaving to found your own company?
That’s exactly what was said to me when I resigned from JCB (laughs). It’s true — one of the founding members was involved in a business related to the circulation of electronic money, and I was in a division that launched new businesses, so it probably was an environment where something close to what we’re doing now could have been achieved from within.
But I saw potential in the changes that technologies and data refined outside the world of finance would bring to the financial world. Payments are a means, not an end. I thought that if a wide variety of companies across a wide range of industries could incorporate electronic payment technology and become players in the payments space, the resulting diversity of participants would enable far larger and broader transformation in the financial world. To make that happen, I decided to step outside the framework of the card company and the card industry, and try to drive “change” from the outside.
— Did all four of you share that conviction?
Each of us four had our own individual sense of “what we wanted to do” — it wasn’t a case of “our goals matched, so we started a company together.” But all four of us shared the same will to “take on new challenges and go somewhere far.” The feeling was that if we were going to take that first step, we wanted to take it together as these four people.
“Business Creation Consulting” — Supporting Business Development Through the Combination of Finance and Multiple Industries
— Could you tell us about the company’s business?
We have built our business around the goal described earlier: “enabling a wide variety of industries and companies to accept payments.” The first thing we do toward that goal is consulting. We are characterized by what we call “business creation consulting” — supporting businesses, local governments, and financial institutions in creating new products, services, and ventures within the context of society’s shift toward the digitization of currency and finance.
Paying digitally rather than with cash is lower in cost and, above all, more convenient. However, if only the payment process within a series of commercial transactions becomes digital while everything else remains analog, the constant back-and-forth between analog and digital can actually become cumbersome — and it is not uncommon for this to place a greater burden on users. It is only when payments are digitized and the entire series of processes can be seamlessly connected that the experience becomes dramatically more convenient and new possibilities open up.
With this in mind, our consulting involves thinking through these questions together with clients: how could a client’s existing business be transformed if payment technology were incorporated? What new businesses could be created by using digital technology to enable online payments? How can a company’s services and operations be seamlessly connected to digital payments? Once a new service or business has been conceived, we then support the client in making it a reality — including business design and system development. Our group has a platform offering the features needed for the digitization of payments, including code payments, point issuance, wallet and pay construction, and card issuance. In addition, we have team members with deep expertise in technology and payments as well as in UX/UI, marketing, security, and law. Using that platform and those people, we accompany client companies in creating new businesses.
— Could you give us some specific examples of the kinds of engagements you handle?
For financial institution clients, many of our engagements involve supporting everything from consulting through to development on systems like “A Bank’s A Pay.” For BtoC companies, we have worked on engagements for manufacturers, supermarkets, drug stores, and similar businesses — building cashless payment and point systems unique to each company or chain.
Responding Broadly to Demand for Payment Digitization — from BtoC and BtoB to Financial Institutions
— What industries do most of your client companies come from?
We have primarily been engaged by BtoC companies. Industries that interface with consumers — where people, goods, and information move, and money changes hands — are a natural fit, and distribution and retail, information and communications, and transportation are particularly common. Recently, the move to incorporate electronic payments is accelerating in BtoB as well, and we are receiving increasing numbers of inquiries from that sector.
In BtoB commercial transactions, it is common to see a flow where contracts are signed, transactions are conducted, invoices are issued, and payments are made in response. Recently, there has been a move to digitize everything from contract signing through to invoice exchange — but a significant number of companies still require paper documents sent by post, and even what is called “digital” is sometimes a PDF created by printing, signing, stamping, and scanning a paper document. And the payment of invoices is still very often made by bank ATM rather than through internet banking.
Digitizing these processes makes operations more efficient and reduces the risk of human error. It also eliminates the need for confirmation exchanges like “Did the invoice arrive?” and “The payment hasn’t come through yet.” Furthermore, it becomes possible to automate payment processing based on data such as the due date and amount on an invoice. This kind of digitization can be deployed across industries, and we also receive requests for digitization tailored to the specific commercial practices of individual sectors.
— Are most of your clients large corporations?
It ranges from large corporations to small and medium-sized businesses. Operating company clients tend to be based in urban areas, but financial institution clients reach us from all over the country, from north to south.
Inquiries from smaller companies often come from ventures and startups that are looking to scale going forward.
— Could you tell us about how people work at your company?
In principle, time and location are fully flexible for everyone. We encourage full flex with no core hours and a hybrid working style. To enable the organization to perform at its best, we want each person and each team to be able to work effectively and efficiently with freedom of choice over time and place.
We have consultants, engineers, and many other roles on staff, and projects often involve collaboration across multiple disciplines. To facilitate that cross-functional collaboration, we also hold regular internal events designed to encourage interaction among colleagues. Connecting with people from different roles is mutually stimulating, and I can feel that it has a positive effect on projects as well. Our company also has very active clubs and circles — covering a rich variety of activities including tennis, golf, soccer, running, saunas, darts, and board games.
What We Are Looking for: a Mindset That Embraces “Change” Without Being Constrained by Precedent or Existing Knowledge
— You are currently recruiting for consulting roles. What kind of people are you looking for?
We want people who are proactive and enthusiastic about engaging with the rapid change that characterizes the industry we work in. Because we deal in payments, you might assume we are looking for finance professionals — but please don’t let that concern you; come and join us. We have knowledgeable members in-house and actively share expertise through training sessions and study groups.
What we should be focusing on is asking: based on existing finance, how can we change it? What new things become possible when we combine different elements from outside the industry? Thinking through those questions is what matters. In dialogues with clients, we frequently gain new ideas and new learnings that are not constrained by the framework of finance. Not being bound by precedent, thinking about new things and taking on challenges in collaboration with clients — I think people with that kind of mindset will find this work genuinely enjoyable.
— From the perspective of new business consulting, is strong creative thinking required?
Rather than progressing on the basis of one person’s idea or concept, we typically advance by communicating with the client company and exchanging views from a logical perspective — asking things like “Could this process be eliminated through digitization?” and “If we bring in digital technology, couldn’t this process be changed in this way?” It is a collaborative process of sharing opinions and moving forward.
It is also common for client companies to have strong enthusiasm for “taking on something new” and to bring rich ideas themselves. And as I mentioned earlier, we have members with expertise across diverse areas — design, UX/UI, operations, law, and more — and we incorporate perspectives from these various angles as needed.
Both the client and our company bring their respective specialist strengths, knowledge, and experience to the table, mashing them together to build new services and businesses that no single person’s ideas could have reached alone. It isn’t necessary for each person to be a specialist with extraordinary abilities — what matters is that each individual brings their own ideas and logic and applies them conscientiously to the work.
— Could you tell us about the points that make working at your company interesting and rewarding?
For a typical consultant, the career path of aiming for “Partner” — the highest level — is a common one. At our company, it is of course entirely possible to hone your skills as a consultant, deepen your expertise, and aim for Partner.
Beyond that, our company accompanies client companies in their new challenges and continues to take on new challenges ourselves — which means there is significant weight given to business-related work, and a great deal to learn about business itself. Through that experience, there are cases where former consultants go on to launch new businesses within our group and become active as product owners, or transfer to operating companies to work on business-side roles, or move into operating companies. This expansion of career options is one of the attractions of working here.
Our mission and vision center on driving social transformation through fintech and generating diverse freedoms and value for the world. We’d love for people who want to take on new challenges and change society to join us and enjoy that change alongside us.
【Post-Interview Note】
What struck me most in the interview with Representative Director Maruyama was his elevated perspective — viewing payments not as an end in themselves but as “a means of making society dramatically more convenient,” and aspiring to bring freedom to the world of tomorrow. Founded by an elite team of JCB alumni, the company pursues “business creation consulting” that connects finance with multiple industries, meeting broad demand for payment digitization across BtoC and BtoB alike.
What I want prospective applicants to know is that the career paths available here go well beyond sharpening your skills as a consultant — they include pivoting to product owner roles, transferring to operating companies, and other business-side opportunities. In a warm, energetic culture built around full flex working, hybrid arrangements, cross-functional collaboration, and vibrant club activities, this environment should serve as the ideal incubator for drawing out the full potential of each individual. For anyone with the passion to reshape the world through cutting-edge fintech — unbounded by precedent and genuinely enjoying change — this is the perfect stage.
ConsulNext Senior Consultant
Masahito Tsukada
Infcurion, Inc. — Company Information
| Company Name | Infcurion, Inc. |
| Founded | May 1, 2006 |
| Capital | ¥100,000,000 |
| Representative | Hiroki Maruyama |
| Employees | 305 (as of February 2024) |
| Business Activities | Platform provision and consulting centered on finance and payment domains |
| Address | MFPR Kojimachi Building 7F, 5-7-2 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083 |
| Memberships | Fintech Association of Japan Cashless Promotion Consortium Japan Payment Service Association |
