Ashikaga Bank Becomes the First Regional Bank to Adopt Zaimon E-Tax Data Receipt Service- New function opens up use to sole proprietors in addition to corporations -

NTT DATA began providing the Zaimon e-Tax Data Receipt Service on June 2, 2008 as the initial offering of the Zaimon^TM financial data distribution gateway Service. Today we are pleased to announce that Ashikaga Bank has decided to adopt the service, becoming the first regional bank to do so. Ashikaga Bank plans to provide its clients with customer services making use of the Zaimon e-Tax Data Receipt Service starting in spring of 2009.
In addition, a function now being developed will make the service available to sole proprietors in addition to the corporate users currently served. This new capability is expected to start in January 2009.

The Zaimon e-Tax Data Receipt Service

The Zaimon e-Tax Data Receipt Service is an ASP service for use by financial institutions in their loan screening and other operations. It gives them direct access to tax return data filed electronically via the e-Tax system of the National Tax Agency. Corporations or tax accountants acting on their behalf make the data available to financial institutions simply by issuing instructions on a Web site.
For corporations, the service simplifies the procedures for providing their tax return data to financial institutions. The financial institutions, in turn, are able to obtain highly trustworthy data and make use of it in operations such as loan screening.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation became the first user of the service on June 2, 2008. Currently the service is used also by Mizuho Bank and Saitama Resona Bank.

Background to Service Adoption by Ashikaga Bank

For fiscal 2007, approximately 510,000 corporate tax returns were filed by means of the e-Tax system. For the six-month period from April to September of 2008, the number has already reached 520,000, as e-Tax is becoming well established for corporate tax filing. Financial institutions, which up to now have received data in the form of carbon copies of paper tax returns, can use this Zaimon service to receive electronic data from corporations that filed their returns electronically. A number of regional banks and shinkin banks are seriously looking at introducing the service to take advantage of this feature.
One of the first financial institutions to consider the service from the viewpoint of expanding services for regional customers was Ashikaga Bank, which had been examining the possibility of receiving e-Tax data. Having seen how easily the service functions can be introduced, Ashikaga has now become the first regional bank to decide on service adoption.

Support for Sole Proprietors

For fiscal 2007, e-Tax was used also by some 3.6 million individual tax return filers, as use by individuals continues to rise. Financial institutions such as regional banks and shinkin banks, which serve large numbers of individual business owners, have a growing need to make use of information on income tax returns.
Up to now, the Zaimon e-Tax Data Receipt Service has supported the sending of e-Tax data only for corporate tax returns. A new function will be added so that starting in January 2009, ordinary income tax return data can also be sent through the service. As a result, regional banks and shinkin banks will be able to obtain electronic tax return data from the income tax returns filed by sole proprietors, and use this in their loan screening and other operations. By taking advantage of this service, they will be able to offer their customers greater convenience while making their own operations more efficient.

Future Plans for Zaimon

NTT DATA will continue to enhance Zaimon as a secure and efficient service, making it into a global, comprehensive distribution platform for use by corporations, individual business owners, and tax accountants in exchanging data with financial institutions. The company has set a target of service introduction by 100 financial institutions by 2013.

* Zaimon^TM is a trademark of NTT DATA Corporation