Softbank, PayPal form PayPal Japan

digital payments joint venture, Telecomasia.net reports.

The venture, PayPal Japan, will offer digital wallet services for online, mobile and offline transactions.

Softbank and PayPal will each invest $12.5 million in the PayPal Japan venture, and will each elect three directors to the company board.

At a press conference, in Tokyo, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son emphasised PayPal's experience in online security and its massive user base, which includes over 110 million active accounts, CIO writes.

He said the PayPal Here service, which has typically been presented as a solution for small businesses to easily offer credit card services, could also work for larger companies in Japan.

"At large electronics stores and supermarkets, dozens line up at cash registers, and customers have to wait. This allows workers at such stores to settle purchases immediately with their smartphones," he said. "So I think it will be adapted at larger stores, not just smaller ones."

Softbank is also well known for its mobile operator business, Japan's third-largest by subscribers, and the first in the country to embrace the current smartphone craze. The operator was the first to offer Apple's iPhone and has grown much faster than rivals since introducing the device.