The MOU was signed on 4 February at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo by the chairmen of the financial promotional organisations of the two cities, Hiroshi Nakaso of FinCity Tokyo and Oliver Behrens of Frankfurt Main Finance. The MOU will create a framework for mutual capital market development and institutional cooperation through conferences and forums, delegations and joint projects, the firm said in a statement. The expanded cooperation will also improve knowledge exchange on how to tackle challenges common to both countries, such as maintaining growth amid rapidly-ageing populations and meeting the energy demand of power-hungry digital infrastructure.

With the world grappling with the question of how to finance a green transition in coming decades, a key area of cooperation will be promoting financial services that contribute to a climate-resilient, low-carbon future, such as green and social bonds, transition finance, alternative investments and infrastructure investment. In fact, the MOU itself is an extension of a joint Tokyo-Frankfurt project in 2023 to study how to finance net-zero transformations through resilient global supply chains, the firm continued.

“Germany and Japan share not only economic interests, but also security interests in maintaining resilient supply chains, financial stability, technological sovereignty, and a rule-based international order,” Nakaso said.

After the establishment of the European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) in Frankfurt in mid-2025, technology is also a promising area of collaboration. The creation of AMLA, which will use big data and AI to detect illegal capital flows, will be accompanied by the launch of tech labs and sandboxes where companies can trial new AI-driven compliance solutions.

“In areas such as decarbonisation and economic security, providing growth capital to critical infrastructure is of growing importance,” Nakaso said. “At the same time, the emergence of new funds, including central bank digital currency, is almost certain to alter the financial landscape in the coming years. In responding to these evolving financial trends, cooperation between Tokyo and Frankfurt offers unique strength.”