Securities segregation and the investor-protection fund vs bank deposit insurance, foreign-currency deposits, fund structures, and crypto differences.
Securities are protected mainly by segregation plus the ¥10m Japan Investor Protection Fund backstop, while bank deposits are protected by deposit insurance up to ¥10m of principal per bank; foreign-currency deposits and crypto are generally treated differently.
Investments held at a securities firm are protected primarily by segregation: your cash and securities are kept separate from the firm’s own assets, so a firm failure should not consume them. The Japan Investor Protection Fund adds a backstop of up to ¥10m per eligible customer if segregation fails and assets cannot be returned. Neither addresses market losses.
Fund (investment-trust) assets have their own layer: they are generally segregated within the trust structure, held by a trustee separate from the asset manager and distributor. So even if a fund management company has trouble, the fund’s underlying assets are not the company’s property — though operational disruption and, always, market losses remain possible.
Bank deposits use a different system: deposit insurance. Interest-bearing ordinary deposits are generally protected up to ¥10m of principal per depositor per financial institution, plus accrued interest to the failure date. Eligible non-interest settlement deposits (used for payments) receive different, fuller protection under the rules. The ¥10m ceiling is per bank, so spreading large balances across institutions changes coverage.
An important gap: foreign-currency deposits are generally outside ordinary deposit-insurance coverage. If you hold significant foreign-currency balances at a bank, do not assume the ¥10m deposit-insurance figure applies to them.
Cryptoassets sit outside these frameworks. They are not protected like securities by the investor-protection fund, nor like deposits by deposit insurance. Registered Japanese crypto exchanges have their own custody and segregation obligations, but the protection is not equivalent to securities or bank protection, and crypto carries extreme volatility, custody, and tax-reporting complexity.
The practical takeaway: match your expectations to the wrapper. Deposits are insured cash; securities are segregated investments with a custody backstop; crypto is a separate, higher-risk category. None of these protections turn a losing investment into a protected one — they address institutional failure, not market outcomes.
Brokerage (NISA/iDeCo) · Rakuten Securities
A leading low-cost brokerage for NISA and index-fund investing, integrated with Rakuten points and Rakuten Bank.
Fees: Many domestic funds and trades are low- or no-commission — verify current fee schedule.
Brokerage (NISA/iDeCo) · SBI Securities
Japan’s largest online brokerage by accounts, with a very broad low-cost fund lineup and full NISA/iDeCo support.
Fees: Many trades and funds are low- or no-commission — verify current fee schedule.
Brokerage (NISA/iDeCo) · Monex
An established online brokerage often chosen for US-stock access and research tools, with NISA and iDeCo support.
Fees: Commissions vary by product; some funds/trades are low-cost — verify current schedule.
This is education, not a recommendation. Most beginners research low-cost, broadly diversified index funds — for example all-country (全世界株式) or S&P 500 trackers — rather than picking individual stocks, because low fees and diversification are within your control while returns are not. Understand that values fall as well as rise, match the risk to your time horizon, and never invest money you may need soon.