Today marks exactly one year since the launch of our English online banking on March 30, 2020. We are extremely delighted to celebrate this special milestone with our customers! Over the past year, we've worked hard to make the criteria for opening a new account with our English online banking easier to understand. Here, we'd like to share the details of these improvements.

Addition of required documents checklist

For many customers, it was difficult to understand exactly how banks in Japan verify someone’s identity. In response, we created new online content to help prospective customers understand the documents required for account opening they need before applying to open an account. This content allows you to check the following points.

• What documents do I need to apply for?
• Do the personal identity documents I have to meet the requirements?

Knowledge is power, and making sure you know which documents you need ahead of time ensures a smooth and worry-free account-opening application process.

Learn more about the documents required to open an account.

Making sure that you have all the necessary documents to open an account

Improving the Open account app user interface

After adding the checklist of the required documents for the account opening to our English online banking, we also worked on revamping the Open Account app user interface. Now customers can also see the same checklist on their Open Account app screen. This consistency makes opening a new account more seamless and straightforward.

Latest acceptable identity verification documents required for account opening

We added Japan-issued driver's licenses and Individual Number Card (My Number Card) as two personal identity documents that will be accepted as an alternative to your Japanese health insurance card. Acceptance depends on whether at least six months have passed since the issuance date of your Japanese residence card. With the addition of these two documents, more customers can now apply to open an account!

Commitment to making continuous improvements to our English online banking

In addition to these improvements, we have also modified our system to enable the display of the customer's full name in English after signing in to our English online banking. Until a few months ago, names were only displayed in katakana.

If you don't yet have a Sony Bank account, please take a look at the checklist to see our new options for required personal identity documents and apply to open an account.

Sony Bank is fully committed to making further improvements to our English online banking and looks forward to your continued support going forward.

• Account Opening
• Important Matters Concerning Foreign Currency Deposits