Japan banking-license tier comparison matrix

TL;DR

Japan’s deposit-taking system is not one license. The Banking Act, Trust Business Act, 信用金庫法, 中小企業等協同組合法, 労働金庫法, and 農林中央金庫法 each carve out distinct license tiers with different statutes, regulators, capital floors, deposit-insurance regimes, permitted-activity envelopes, and governance shapes. This matrix collects the publicly verifiable axes across megabank / regional / second-regional / trust / net / foreign-branch / shinkin / credit-cooperative / rōkin / Norinchukin-JA-JF so the licence-shape question can be answered before the brand or balance-sheet question.

Wiki route

This entry sits under banking index and pairs with Cooperative banking in Japan for the cooperative-finance lane, Japan net bank competition map for the digital-bank lane, Foreign-bank Japan retreat for the foreign-branch lane, and Regional bank consolidation pattern for the regional-bank lane. The regulatory boundary is bank license and BaaS boundary inside JapanFG legal / financial licenses. The deposit-insurance system is Yokin Hoken Kiko. The cooperative central institutions are Norinchukin and Shinkin Central.

Why a tier matrix matters

A single phrase like “Japanese bank” hides the fact that the licence tier controls almost every public-surface field that matters for analysis:

• which statute the institution lives under;
• which regulator inspects it (FSA, 厚労省 jointly for rōkin, 農水省 jointly for JA / JF / Norinchukin);
• whether the deposit insurance counterparty is DICJ or the JA共済 / cooperative-protection regime;
• whether the institution can hold a securities licence, trust licence, or only ordinary banking;
• whether it can incorporate inside a bank holding company;
• whether it has direct banking-domain access to the BoJ as a counterparty;
• and whether membership / geography is a hard legal constraint.

Without the licence tier, a net bank looks like just another retail bank, a shinkin looks like just another small regional, and a foreign branch looks like just another wholesale player.

Tier 1 — Megabank (普通銀行 / 都市銀行)

• Statute / regulator. Banking Act 普通銀行 license; supervised by FSA Major-Banks-and-Bank-Holding-Companies Division, with BoJ on-site monitoring as monetary-policy counterparty.
• License + count. Banking Act 普通銀行. The three SMBC / MUFG / Mizuho cores plus Resona / Saitama Resona sit inside banking index as the megabank lane.
• Capital floor. Banking Act minimum paid-in capital is ¥2 billion for ordinary banks; megabanks operate far above this and run on BIS Basel III group capital — Common Equity Tier 1 ≥ 4.5%, Tier 1 ≥ 6%, total capital ratio ≥ 8%, plus the G-SIB / D-SIB capital buffer surcharge tier (MUFG, SMFG, Mizuho carry G-SIB surcharges; Resona is treated as a D-SIB).
• Liquidity. Full Basel III LCR ≥ 100% and NSFR ≥ 100% applied on a consolidated basis.
• Deposit insurance. DICJ coverage; ¥10 million principal plus interest under the standard deposit-insurance frame, with 決済用預金 fully protected.
• Permitted activities. Deposits, lending, FX, settlement, bond and government-bond underwriting, securities-affiliated business through subsidiaries, derivatives, custody, asset management, leasing, consumer finance, holding-company strategic functions.
• Cross-border. Full international banking: overseas branches, foreign-bank subsidiaries, USD / EUR clearing access, cross-border lending, project / trade finance, swap-line eligibility.
• Governance. Joint-stock company listed on TSE Prime; bank holding company structure permitted and used (MUFG, SMFG, Mizuho FG, Resona HD).
• Geography. No statutory geographic restriction; nationwide branch and overseas presence.
• M&A / holding company. Bank holding company permitted with prior FSA approval; cross-shareholding and consolidation routes are open under the Banking Act.
• BoJ counterparty. Direct BoJ current account; primary dealer in JGBs; access to BoJ market operations.
• Recent regulatory changes. Banking Act 改正 (Reiwa 3 / 2021) expanded the bank-affiliated-company scope and digital / regional revitalization investment scope; updates around bank-issued digital-money and 電子決済等取扱業 affect this layer most directly. See bank license and BaaS boundary.

Tier 2 — Regional bank (地方銀行)

• Statute / regulator. Banking Act 普通銀行 license; supervised under FSA’s 中小・地域金融機関 supervision guideline; many regional banks also fall under regional bank consolidation pattern when prefectural FSA bureaus engage.
• License + count. Banking Act 普通銀行 license, 第一地方銀行協会 member; the 全銀協 grouping treats this as the “regional bank” tier sitting between megabanks and second-regional banks.
• Capital floor. Same Banking Act ¥2 billion minimum; BIS standardized approach for most, IRB only for the largest; domestic-standard 4% core capital ratio applies to banks without international operations.
• Liquidity. LCR / NSFR applied for internationally active banks; domestic-standard banks run a simpler liquidity requirement under the FSA domestic framework.
• Deposit insurance. DICJ coverage on the same terms as megabanks.
• Permitted activities. Deposits, lending, FX, settlement, securities-affiliated business through subsidiaries; trust business via separate licence (some regionals carry trust ancillary functions).
• Cross-border. Limited; the larger regionals operate overseas representative offices and select branches but most are domestically focused.
• Governance. Joint-stock company; many are TSE-listed; bank holding company structure increasingly common (regional bank consolidation pattern).
• Geography. No legal geographic restriction, but franchise concentrates in one to a few prefectures.
• M&A / holding company. Bank holding company permitted with FSA approval; consolidation under FSA’s 経営統合 framework is the dominant M&A route.
• BoJ counterparty. Direct BoJ current account; eligible for BoJ market operations on a smaller scale than megabanks.
• Recent regulatory changes. 2021 Banking Act 改正 expanded permitted-affiliated-company business and made it easier for regional banks to invest in regional revitalization, digital banking subsidiaries, and consulting subsidiaries — material to the consolidation arc tracked in regional bank consolidation pattern.

Tier 3 — Second regional bank (第二地方銀行)

• Statute / regulator. Banking Act 普通銀行 license; same FSA 中小・地域金融機関 supervision guideline. Legally indistinguishable from a regional bank — the “second” tag is industry-association membership.
• License + count. Banking Act 普通銀行 license, 第二地方銀行協会 member; historically the conversion from 相互銀行 (mutual savings banks) into ordinary banks under the 1989 reform.
• Capital floor. Banking Act minimum identical to regionals; BIS regime identical.
• Liquidity. Same as ordinary regional banks; domestic-standard liquidity for non-internationally-active banks.
• Deposit insurance. DICJ coverage on full Banking-Act terms.
• Permitted activities. Same as regional banks; in practice the franchise is more SME-tilted and the balance sheet is smaller.
• Cross-border. Minimal; almost entirely domestic franchises.
• Governance. Joint-stock company; TSE-listed in many cases; bank holding company permitted.
• Geography. Single-prefecture franchise more typical than first-tier regionals.
• M&A / holding company. The consolidation flow described in regional bank consolidation pattern often pairs a first-tier regional with a same-prefecture second regional inside one holding company.
• BoJ counterparty. Direct BoJ current account.
• Recent regulatory changes. Same 2021 Banking Act 改正 envelope as ordinary regionals; FSA support measures for consolidation (system-cost subsidies, governance flexibility) are a meaningful nudge at this tier.

Tier 4 — Trust bank (信託銀行)

• Statute / regulator. Dual license: Banking Act 普通銀行 license plus Trust Business Act trust business license under FSA. The dual-licence shape is what makes a trust bank legally distinct from an ordinary bank.
• License + count. Public membership is captured in 信託協会 trust-bank rosters. Operating-company anchors include banking index trust-bank routes plus the JapanFG trust-bank pages; the operating-comparison surface is trust-bank custody operating comparison.
• Capital floor. Banking Act minimum applies; additional Trust Business Act competence and operating requirements (segregated trust accounts, fiduciary-duty obligations) sit on top.
• Liquidity. Banking Act LCR / NSFR on the banking-book side; trust assets are off-balance-sheet under separate fiduciary accounting.
• Deposit insurance. DICJ coverage on the banking-book deposits; trust accounts protected through the 元本補填信託 path for protected-principal money trusts under the same DICJ frame.
• Permitted activities. Banking (deposits, lending, FX, settlement) plus trust business (money trusts, securities-investment trusts, pension trusts, custody, securities settlement, real-estate trusts, asset administration). The dual-license tier carries the broadest activity envelope in the deposit-taking universe.
• Cross-border. Megabank trust arms (MUFJ Trust, SMBC Trust, Mizuho Trust) operate global custody and asset-administration networks; specialist asset-administration banks (Master Trust Bank of Japan, Custody Bank of Japan) operate the institutional infrastructure layer.
• Governance. Joint-stock company; almost always under a bank holding company.
• Geography. No statutory restriction; nationwide.
• M&A / holding company. Bank holding company permitted; trust-bank subsidiaries often sit alongside ordinary bank subsidiaries in megabank groups.
• BoJ counterparty. Direct BoJ current account; custody-bank trust arms participate in BoJ-NET / JGB settlement infrastructure.
• Recent regulatory changes. FSA’s expansion of fiduciary-duty principles, asset-management business-improvement orders, and the legal-financial-licenses track on trust-business reform reshape the operating envelope; bank-issued digital-money intermediation under 電子決済等取扱業 also lands on bank-side trust intermediation.

Tier 5 — Net bank (ネット銀行)

• Statute / regulator. Banking Act 普通銀行 license. No separate statutory category — “net bank” is operational, not legal. The licence is identical to a megabank’s.
• License + count. Banking Act 普通銀行 license; the operating universe is tracked in Japan net bank competition map (ecosystem retail, full-banking BaaS, corporate API, asset-formation, regional digital).
• Capital floor. Banking Act minimum capital; BIS standardized approach for most, domestic-standard 4% for many; some net banks (Rakuten Bank, SBI Sumishin Net Bank) have grown into mid-cap balance sheets.
• Liquidity. Standard Banking Act LCR / NSFR rules, domestic-standard for non-internationally-active operators.
• Deposit insurance. DICJ coverage on full Banking-Act terms.
• Permitted activities. Full ordinary-bank envelope; some operate full-banking BaaS for partners (Japan BaaS operating models), some operate corporate API banking, some operate securities-adjacent retail banking.
• Cross-border. Limited; FX retail and overseas remittance are common, full overseas branches uncommon.
• Governance. Joint-stock company; bank holding company permitted; many net banks sit inside fintech / ecommerce / telecom / securities parent groups rather than under a bank holding company.
• Geography. No branch network in the traditional sense; nationwide digital channel.
• M&A / holding company. Bank holding company permitted; the operational-model question (parent ecosystem, partner BaaS, securities adjacency) is in Japan net bank competition map.
• BoJ counterparty. Direct BoJ current account once licensed as a 普通銀行.
• Recent regulatory changes. 2021 Banking Act 改正 expansion of banking-affiliated-company scope is one of the most directly material changes for this tier; 電子決済等取扱業 and BaaS-boundary supervision tracked in bank license and BaaS boundary affect operating freedom rather than licence shape.

Tier 6 — Foreign bank branch (外国銀行支店)

• Statute / regulator. Banking Act 外国銀行支店 license under Chapter IX of the Banking Act; supervised under FSA’s Major-Banks and the foreign-bank supervisory route.
• License + count. Banking Act 外国銀行支店 license; FSA publishes the foreign-bank branch list and updates it periodically. The pattern is tracked in Foreign-bank Japan retreat.
• Capital floor. Branch capital-equivalent rule applies (assets-equivalent treatment, home-office capital adequacy reliance); not the ordinary ¥2 billion paid-in capital floor for domestically incorporated banks. Home-office Basel III standing matters.
• Liquidity. Branch-specific liquidity expectations; home-office LCR / NSFR carry through home-supervisor frame, with FSA add-on requirements where domestic operations are material.
• Deposit insurance. DICJ coverage does not automatically apply to foreign bank branches in the same way as Japanese banks — under Banking Act Chapter IX, foreign bank branch deposits are not covered by the Japanese DICJ system; depositors rely on home-country protection and branch asset / Japan-asset-pledge rules.
• Permitted activities. Banking, FX, securities-affiliated through licensed subsidiaries; activities limited to what the licence authorises plus home-office capability subject to Japanese regulatory equivalence.
• Cross-border. Native; the entire point of the licence is to support corporate, wholesale, custody, markets, FX, trade, and Asia-corridor business — see the segment map in Foreign-bank Japan retreat.
• Governance. Branch of an overseas legal entity; not a Japanese joint-stock company; governed by home-office board and Japan branch governance under FSA expectation.
• Geography. Typically one to a few branches in Tokyo / Osaka.
• M&A / holding company. Cannot be parented inside a Japanese bank holding company; restructuring usually goes through home office.
• BoJ counterparty. Foreign bank branches can hold BoJ current accounts and participate in BoJ-NET; not all foreign branches do.
• Recent regulatory changes. FSA’s foreign-bank-branch supervision guideline updates around AML, suspicious-transaction monitoring, governance-equivalence, and home-office risk controls remain the active perimeter.

Tier 7 — Shinkin (信用金庫)

• Statute / regulator. 信用金庫法; supervised under FSA’s 中小・地域金融機関 supervision guideline (Part V on cooperative financial institutions) and Local Finance Bureau / 福岡財務支局 / 沖縄総合事務局 routes.
• License + count. 信用金庫法 license; 254 licensed shinkin banks per Japan shinkin bank registry, plus the central institution Shinkin Central.
• Capital floor. 信用金庫法 minimum 出資金 ¥100 million for ordinary shinkin (¥200 million for designated areas); BIS-style capital adequacy is the FSA domestic-standard 4% core capital framework.
• Liquidity. FSA domestic-standard liquidity expectations; central-institution liquidity support from Shinkin Central.
• Deposit insurance. DICJ coverage applies on the same Banking-Act-equivalent terms.
• Permitted activities. Member deposits, member lending, settlement, FX, securities investment; lending to non-members is restricted in proportion (50% non-member cap is the historic anchor, with carve-outs).
• Cross-border. Generally none; some larger shinkin run modest FX / remittance through corresponding-bank routes.
• Governance. Cooperative / 協同組織 — member-based, one-member-one-vote governance, with 出資 (membership investment) rather than tradeable equity.
• Geography. Statutory business area (営業地区) tied to municipality / prefecture; members must reside, work, or have business in the area.
• M&A / holding company. No bank holding company route; mergers happen between shinkin under 信用金庫法 procedures and FSA approval; cross-shinkin alliances run through Shinkin Central.
• BoJ counterparty. Shinkin Central is the BoJ counterparty for the shinkin system; individual shinkin clear through 信金中央金庫.
• Recent regulatory changes. 信用金庫法 amendments expanding affiliated-business scope and 2021-era cooperative-finance reform mirroring the Banking Act expansion are the main updates; see Cooperative banking in Japan for context.

Tier 8 — Credit cooperative (信用組合)

• Statute / regulator. 中小企業等協同組合法 plus 協同組合による金融事業に関する法律; supervised by FSA’s 中小・地域金融機関 route in coordination with prefectural authorities. License granted to 信用協同組合.
• License + count. 143 licensed credit cooperatives per Japan credit cooperative registry, plus the central institution 全国信用協同組合連合会.
• Capital floor. Cooperative-law minimum 出資金 with FSA-domestic-standard capital adequacy; smaller floors than shinkin.
• Liquidity. FSA domestic-standard liquidity; central-institution liquidity support from 全信組連.
• Deposit insurance. DICJ coverage applies.
• Permitted activities. Member deposits, member lending, FX, settlement; tighter member-eligibility rule than shinkin (members are restricted by industry, region, occupation, or affinity — 業域 / 地域 / 職域).
• Cross-border. Generally none.
• Governance. Cooperative / 協同組織 with one-member-one-vote and 出資 membership investment.
• Geography. Statutory business area; many cooperatives serve a specific occupation or industry rather than a prefecture (e.g. 商工組合中央金庫 historically, ethnic-Korean / Chinese commercial cooperatives, transport-industry cooperatives).
• M&A / holding company. No bank holding company route; mergers among credit cooperatives are permitted under 中小企業等協同組合法 procedures.
• BoJ counterparty. 全信組連 is the BoJ counterparty for the credit-cooperative system.
• Recent regulatory changes. Same cooperative-finance reform envelope as shinkin; affiliated-business scope expansion makes regional revitalization / consulting / digital subsidiary investment somewhat easier than it was pre-2021.

Tier 9 — Rōkin (労働金庫)

• Statute / regulator. 労働金庫法; jointly supervised by FSA and 厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). This dual-regulator shape is unique inside the deposit-taking universe.
• License + count. 13 licensed rōkin per Japan rokin bank registry (regional rōkin like 中央労働金庫, 近畿労働金庫, 東海労働金庫, etc.), plus the central institution 労働金庫連合会.
• Capital floor. 労働金庫法 minimum 出資金; FSA-domestic-standard capital adequacy applies.
• Liquidity. FSA domestic-standard liquidity; central-institution liquidity support from 労金連.
• Deposit insurance. DICJ coverage applies.
• Permitted activities. Member deposits, lending, mortgage, settlement; members are labour unions, consumer-livelihood cooperatives, and persons affiliated with member organizations. Loans are concentrated in household / worker finance (mortgages, education loans, life-event finance).
• Cross-border. None of meaningful scale.
• Governance. Cooperative / 協同組織; member organizations rather than individuals own the rōkin; labour-union representation is structural.
• Geography. Regional business area; 13 regional rōkin cover Japan together rather than overlapping.
• M&A / holding company. No bank holding company route; rōkin can merge under 労働金庫法 procedures.
• BoJ counterparty. 労金連 is the BoJ counterparty for the rōkin system.
• Recent regulatory changes. Joint FSA / 厚労省 supervision means that workplace and consumer-protection updates filter into rōkin supervision in addition to ordinary FSA bank-supervision updates.

Tier 10 — Norinchukin / JA / JF system (農林系統金融)

• Statute / regulator. 農林中央金庫法 (for 農林中央金庫); 農業協同組合法 (for JA / Shinnoren credit business); 水産業協同組合法 (for JF / Shingyoren credit business). Jointly supervised by FSA and 農林水産省 (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) — another dual-regulator regime.
• License + count. Norinchukin sits at the apex as the central institution. Below it: prefectural Shinnoren (JA credit federations) and Shingyoren (JF credit federations), and underlying credit-business JA and JF cooperatives. See banking index for the JA Bank system and JF Marine Bank system routes.
• Capital floor. 農林中央金庫法 sets a special framework for Norinchukin as a 特殊法人; member cooperatives operate under their respective cooperative laws.
• Liquidity. Banking-equivalent prudential framework applied to Norinchukin (BIS-style capital and liquidity, given its market activities); member institutions run on cooperative-law prudential standards.
• Deposit insurance. DICJ generally covers JA / JF deposit-equivalent claims through the cooperative-finance pathway; the 農水産業協同組合貯金保険機構 (農水産業 cooperatives savings insurance organization) provides a parallel insurance mechanism for agricultural / fisheries cooperative savings, separate from the bank DICJ track.
• Permitted activities. Member deposits / 貯金 (technically called 貯金, not 預金, in JA / JF), lending, settlement, FX (through Norinchukin), large-scale securities investment, asset management. Norinchukin is a globally active fixed-income / structured-credit investor by mandate, which is highly distinctive among Japanese deposit-takers.
• Cross-border. Norinchukin operates a large overseas investment portfolio and has overseas representative offices; member JA / JF cooperatives do not.
• Governance. Cooperative / 協同組織 at the JA / JF level; 特殊法人 at the Norinchukin level. Member-organization governance and agricultural-policy proximity are part of the institutional design.
• Geography. JA / JF cooperatives are local to their municipal / prefectural areas; Shinnoren / Shingyoren are prefectural; Norinchukin is national.
• M&A / holding company. No ordinary bank holding company route; system consolidation happens through cooperative-law mergers, federation reorganizations, and central-institution restructuring.
• BoJ counterparty. Norinchukin holds direct BoJ current-account access as the system central institution.
• Recent regulatory changes. 農林中央金庫法 amendments around capital structure / regulatory capital, FSA-MAFF joint supervision updates on market-risk and concentration management, and ongoing post-2024 disclosures on portfolio losses / restructuring tracked in the Norinchukin page.

Cross-tier comparison matrix

| Dimension | Megabank | Regional | 2nd regional | Trust bank | Net bank | Foreign branch | Shinkin | 信用組合 | Rōkin | 農林系統 / Norinchukin | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Statute | Banking Act 普銀 | Banking Act 普銀 | Banking Act 普銀 | Banking Act 普銀 + Trust Business Act | Banking Act 普銀 | Banking Act Ch. IX (外銀支店) | 信用金庫法 | 中協法 / 協金法 | 労働金庫法 | 農林中央金庫法 / 農協法 / 水協法 | | Regulator | FSA + BoJ | FSA + Local Finance Bureau | FSA + Local Finance Bureau | FSA (Banking + Trust) | FSA | FSA Major-Banks (foreign-branch route) | FSA 中小・地域 | FSA 中小・地域 + 都道府県 | FSA + 厚労省 | FSA + 農水省 | | Min. capital floor | Banking Act ¥2bn (in practice far higher) | Banking Act ¥2bn | Banking Act ¥2bn | Banking Act ¥2bn + Trust Business competence | Banking Act ¥2bn | Branch capital-equivalent; home-office Basel III | 出資金 ¥100m / ¥200m | Cooperative-law 出資金 | Cooperative-law 出資金 | 特殊法人 framework | | Capital regime | BIS Basel III + G-SIB/D-SIB surcharge | BIS standardized / domestic-standard | BIS standardized / domestic-standard | Same as banking peer + trust prudential | BIS standardized / domestic-standard | Home-office Basel III + branch rules | FSA domestic-standard 4% | FSA domestic-standard | FSA domestic-standard | Banking-equivalent for 農中 | | LCR / NSFR | Yes, full | Internationally active only | Rare | Yes for banking book | Domestic-standard or full | Home-office + FSA add-on | Domestic-standard | Domestic-standard | Domestic-standard | Yes for 農中 | | Deposit insurance | DICJ | DICJ | DICJ | DICJ + protected-principal trust | DICJ | Not covered by DICJ; home-country regime | DICJ | DICJ | DICJ | 農水産業貯金保険機構 (parallel) | | Permitted activities | Full + securities subs + trust subs | Full + securities subs | Full + securities subs | Full banking + full trust | Full banking | Banking + licensed sub activities | Member deposits / loans + investments | Member deposits / loans (tighter) | Worker / member finance | Member 貯金 / loans + 農中 markets | | Cross-border | Native global | Limited | Minimal | Native via custody / trust | Limited | Native (point of licence) | None | None | None | 農中 native; member none | | Governance | Joint-stock, listed | Joint-stock, mostly listed | Joint-stock | Joint-stock under bank HD | Joint-stock, often non-bank parent | Branch of foreign legal entity | Cooperative / 協同組織 | Cooperative / 協同組織 | Cooperative + labour-union | Cooperative + 特殊法人 | | Geography | Nationwide + overseas | One to a few prefectures | Single prefecture typical | Nationwide | Digital nationwide | One or two cities | Statutory 営業地区 | Statutory 営業地区 | Regional rōkin area | Local JA/JF + national 農中 | | Holding company | Yes (FSA approval) | Yes (FSA approval) | Yes (FSA approval) | Yes (FSA approval) | Yes (FSA approval) | No (parent is overseas) | No | No | No | No (system structure) | | BoJ counterparty | Direct | Direct | Direct | Direct | Direct | Direct (where elected) | Via Shinkin Central | Via 全信組連 | Via 労金連 | Direct (Norinchukin) | | G-SIB / D-SIB | All three megabank groups (G-SIB); Resona (D-SIB) | None | None | Trust arms inside G-SIB groups | None | Home-office may be a G-SIB | None | None | None | None |

How to read this matrix

The licence-tier matrix is a public-surface tool. It does not rank institutions, does not estimate balance-sheet health, and does not predict consolidation. It exists so that a banking index entry, a net bank entry, or a foreign-branch entry can be classified consistently before the question of strategy, channel, or franchise gets asked.

When reading any single institution page:

1. Start with the statute column — that determines almost every other field.
2. Check the deposit-insurance column. Foreign branches and 農水産業 cooperatives are exceptions to the default DICJ frame.
3. Check the BoJ counterparty column. Cooperative-finance institutions clear through their central institution rather than directly.
4. Check the holding-company column. Cooperative tiers cannot use a bank holding company; foreign branches cannot use one either.
5. Use the governance column to read whether one-member-one-vote, joint-stock-listed, or branch-of-overseas-entity language applies — that determines what governance, disclosure, and M&A surfaces are available.

Boundary cases and caveats

• Net bank vs ordinary bank. A net bank is operationally distinct but legally identical to any other 普通銀行. The licence tier is the same as a megabank. See Japan net bank competition map.
• Trust bank vs ordinary bank. A trust bank is legally distinct (dual licence). An ordinary bank with a trust subsidiary is not the same as a trust bank.
• Shinkin vs credit cooperative. Both are 協同組織 cooperative-finance institutions with separate statutes; eligibility rules and supervisory bureaus differ. See shinkin registry and credit cooperative registry.
• Rōkin vs other cooperative-finance. Rōkin are uniquely jointly supervised with 厚労省 and have a labour-union membership structure. See rōkin registry.
• 農林系統 vs ordinary cooperative-finance. The system uses 貯金 (savings) rather than 預金 (deposits) terminology and has its own savings-insurance organization parallel to DICJ; supervision is joint FSA / 農水省.
• Foreign bank branch vs Japanese-incorporated foreign-owned bank. A 外国銀行支店 is a branch under Chapter IX. A Japanese-incorporated subsidiary (e.g. banking INDEX entities like SBJ Bank) is a 普通銀行 with foreign ownership, not a foreign-bank branch. Deposit insurance treatment differs.
• Bank-agent / BaaS surface vs bank licence. A partner-branded app, a BaaS service, or a bank-agent channel is not a separate banking licence — the deposit obligor is the licensed bank. See bank license and BaaS boundary for the legal-stack-vs-UX-stack mapping.

Related

• banking index
• cooperative-banking-japan
• japan-net-bank-competition-map
• foreign-bank-japan-retreat
• regional-bank-consolidation-pattern
• shinkin-bank-registry-japan
• credit-cooperative-registry-japan
• rokin-bank-registry-japan
• ja-bank-system-japan
• jf-marine-bank-system-japan
• japan-baas-operating-models
• trust-bank-custody-operating-comparison
• bank-license-and-baas-boundary
• INDEX
• yokin-hoken-kiko
• norinchukin
• shinkin-central
• FinWiki index

Sources

• FSA: licensed bank registry workbook (ginkou.xlsx).
• FSA: shinkin license registry (shinkin.xlsx).
• FSA: credit-cooperative authorization registry (shinkumi.xlsx).
• FSA: rōkin license registry (rokin.xlsx).
• FSA: licensed / registered operator portal (menkyo.html).
• FSA: 主要行等向けの総合的な監督指針 (major banks supervision guideline).
• FSA: 中小・地域金融機関向けの総合的な監督指針, including Part V on cooperative financial institutions.
• DICJ: Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan public site.
• BIS: Basel III framework documentation.
• 全国銀行協会 (Japanese Bankers Association): Financial Institutions in Japan.
• 信託協会: trust banks roster and trust-business overview.
• JA Bank: JAバンクのしくみ / JAバンクシステム.
• 農林中央金庫: 農林中央金庫の特徴 / system overview.
• JF Marine Bank: 基本方針 page.
• 信用金庫: 信用金庫の制度 page.
• Japanese Law Translation (japaneselawtranslation.go.jp): Banking Act English translation.