Sony Bank Honored with IT Award for Business Transformation Using Cloud Technology

Sony Bank Receives Prestigious IT Award for Cloud Innovation

Sony Bank, under the leadership of President Keiji Minami, has achieved a significant milestone by winning the IT Award (Management and Business Reform) at the 43rd annual IT Awards organized by the Japan Information Technology Association. This recognition highlights their outstanding contributions in leveraging IT and digital technology to implement remarkable business reforms and social contributions.

In particular, Sony Bank was honored for its innovative theme, "Cloud Shift Strategy for Enhanced Business Agility", which led to the successful launch of its next-generation digital banking system on May 6, 2025. The award acknowledges the establishment of a resilient management infrastructure based on cloud technology within the bank.

The IT Award celebrates organizations, institutions, and individuals that have utilized IT and digital technology to realize noteworthy business transformation and contributions to society. Sony Bank's journey began back in 2013, during which it has relentlessly pursued a comprehensive system overhaul based on cloud technology.

By 2025, Sony Bank successfully launched a globally rare cloud-native account management system on AWS, representing a pioneering effort in a conservative financial industry that has traditionally been apprehensive about cloud adoption. This comprehensive transition to the cloud, including core systems, not only strengthens Sony Bank's operations but also serves as an inspiration for other financial institutions to embrace similar changes.

The bank's management demonstrated strong commitment by aligning IT system upgrades with its overarching business strategy. They didn't just transfer the old, complex account management system to the cloud; instead, they transitioned to a simplified, loosely coupled system based on microservices and cloud-native architectures. This careful approach involved a phased migration while maintaining operational continuity and ensuring that the existing systems' maintenance deadlines were respected.

This strategic move has resulted in a substantial increase in the speed of system development and service delivery, thus achieving the much-desired business agility that can promptly respond to changing environments. Sony Bank aims to collaborate with various sectors of the Sony Group, leveraging synergies from electronics, audio, gaming, and entertainment to establish a cohesive “Sony Economic Zone.”

Recognizing cloud technology as the cornerstone of their business transformation, Sony Bank has broke through the conservative traditions of the financial sector and, as a result, their initiatives were deemed worthy of the IT Award.

For more details about the award system, please visit the Japan Information Technology Association’s IT Award page.

In addition to this recognition, starting September 2025, Sony Bank will implement generative AI in the functional development of its new account management system, developed in collaboration with Fujitsu's Fujitsu Core Banking xBank solution. They plan to have all features of the core banking system powered by generative AI by April 2026.

This cloud-native environment, shaped by the next-generation digital banking system, will be leveraged fully, including the application of generative AI, as Sony Bank aims to establish itself as a leading model for AI utilization in Japan’s financial sector.