Monex Group, Inc. announced on November 9, 2026, that it has entered into a share subscription agreement with IRBANK Inc., operator of Japan’s leading investment information service, to acquire an equity stake that will make IRBANK an equity-method affiliate. The investment aims to combine IRBANK’s extensive investment data and AI capabilities with Monex’s financial services infrastructure to create an integrated, AI-powered trading and analysis platform.
- IRBANK Monthly Active Users: Approximately one million
- IRBANK Launch Date: 2013
- IRBANK Capital: JPY 31 million (as of April 2026)
- Key Timeline: Monex Securities launched its ChatGPT plugin-compatible MCP Server in August 2026; IRBANK launched its API/MCP server in July 2026
IRBANK provides comprehensive investment information, including corporate earnings, financial results, stock prices, and trading data with time-series visualization tools. The platform serves individual investors analyzing Japanese equities. In response to rapid advances in generative AI and AI agents, Monex Securities, a group company, became the first major Japanese securities firm to launch a ChatGPT plugin-compatible service in August 2026, enabling AI tools to access brokerage account information.
The alliance will focus on three initiatives: jointly developing an AI-native, multi-asset investment experience that combines AI-agent-based analysis with trade execution; integrating Monex Securities account balances into IRBANK, with plans to enable order placement; and expanding its customer base through financial-instrument intermediation. The feature that lets users view Monex Securities account balances in IRBANK became available immediately after the announcement. The collaboration targets seamless connections across Japanese equities, U.S. equities, and cryptocurrency assets.
The company expects the transaction’s impact on consolidated financial results to be immaterial. Monex Group operates as a holding company for multiple financial services subsidiaries, including Monex Securities, a major Japanese online brokerage firm.
