SMBC Group, Fujitsu and SoftBank Corp. Join Forces to Ensure the Continued Sustainability of Japan's Healthcare System

With more than 30% of its citizens over 65, Japan’s aging population is driving a surge in healthcare demand and medical costs, putting the sustainability of its healthcare system into question. To help extend healthy life expectancies and optimize limited healthcare resources, the effective use of medical data, personal health data and AI is becoming increasingly important. However, Japan’s fragmented health data systems and concerns surrounding data sovereignty have highlighted the need for a secure, interoperable and domestically developed healthcare platform.

To address this challenge, on May 18, 2026, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., Fujitsu Limited and SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) entered a basic agreement to form a business alliance in the health and medical fields with the objective of ensuring the continued sustainability of Japan's healthcare system. The three companies held a joint press conference in Tokyo on the following day, where Toru Nakashima, SMBC Group's President and Group CEO, Takahito Tokita, Fujitsu's Representative Director, CEO, and Junichi Miyakawa, SoftBank’s President & CEO, outlined how each company will play a role in the new initiative.

SMBC Group: Supporting healthcare by leveraging customer base and financial services

SMBC Group’s Nakashima explained the respective roles of the three companies. Fujitsu will lead the development and management of the data platform, SoftBank Corp. will spearhead the development and provision of a user app, and SMBC Group will leverage its extensive customer base to drive the widespread adoption of next-generation healthcare services.

Nakashima also touched upon Japan’s looming “2040 Problem,” which sees a shrinking working-age population and rising healthcare costs placing greater pressure on the disposable incomes of younger generations, potentially accelerating the declining birthrate to create a vicious cycle.

To overcome these challenges, Nakashima stressed that all generations, including seniors, need to stay healthy and continue to be active in society to curb rising healthcare costs, mitigate labor shortages, and ease the burden for working generations. To foster this kind of virtuous cycle, the three companies will work together to build a Japan-made healthcare platform that leverages data, AI and smartphones.

SMBC Group launched its “Olive Healthcare” service in March 2026 through its partnership with SoftBank. Nakashima said the new business alliance will further evolve Olive Healthcare while deepening integration with its financial services to provide customers with peace of mind by supporting both their finances and health.

Fujitsu: Building secure and trusted infrastructure for medical data distribution

Fujitsu’s Tokita explained that his company will contribute to the partnership by leveraging its advanced technologies, expertise in healthcare and experience in addressing social challenges across industries. Fujitsu will utilize the technological capabilities and customer relationships it has cultivated over the years to support the safe and secure distribution of sensitive medical data, he added.

The business alliance aims to establish a sovereign, Japan-made healthcare platform that links personal health data with medical information such as electronic health records held by healthcare institutions, creating new value through integrated data utilization. On the consumer-facing side, SoftBank will lead efforts to provide health-related information through an AI-powered app designed to encourage healthier lifestyles. Meanwhile, Fujitsu will spearhead the development of the data platform.

Tokita explained that Fujitsu will build a system capable of securely processing and distributing diverse forms of medical data despite the varied specifications and formats used by Japan’s healthcare institutions.

SoftBank: Providing tailored healthcare experiences through a user app

SoftBank’s Miyakawa warned that, according to current projections, Japan’s healthcare will continue to rise, noting that the issue “could affect the sustainability of the nation itself.” He explained that SoftBank will lead the development of the initiative’s user app as part of efforts to establish the Japan-made healthcare platform. The app will be designed to integrate personal health data — including step counts, blood pressure, and sleep duration — with medical data such as electronic health records, prescriptions, medication history and test results to provide tailored healthcare experiences.

SMBC Group, Fujitsu and SoftBank Corp. Join Forces to Ensure the Continued Sustainability of Japan's Healthcare System

By way of example, Miyakawa introduced lifestyle improvement recommendations generated by combining activity data with health checkup results. For instance, users recording 3,200 steps per day and showing slightly elevated blood pressure in health screenings could receive personalized recommendations to improve their exercise habits. He also shared another example in which users averaging 4 hours and 45 minutes of sleep and showed a history of visiting sleep clinics could receive recommendations encouraging reduced smartphone use before bedtime to address insomnia.

In addition, SoftBank is envisioning the app will include appointment booking and payment functions. Based on symptoms and medical history, the app could recommend healthcare providers and allow users to complete appointments, schedule changes and post-visit payments seamlessly within the app.

The three companies aim to expand the service by leveraging their combined customer bases, with a long-term goal of connecting 4,000 medical institutions and reaching 60 million users. Miyakawa also explained the initiative will optimize healthcare resources through medical information sharing, prescription data integration and preventive care and health support, ultimately targeting an offset of approximately 5 trillion yen in future healthcare cost increases.

Miyakawa acknowledged that building a Japan-made sovereign healthcare platform will present challenges, but emphasized that now is the time to act.

“We hope to work with companies, hospitals and local governments that share our vision so our universal healthcare system — one of our nation’s greatest assets — can continue to be sustainable,” he said.