Takafumi Ochiai

Takafumi Ochiai is a Senior Partner at Atsumi & Sakai, the head of the firm’s Policy Research Institute and a manager of the firm’s Fintech and Emerging Practice Teams. He is a vice chair of the Fintech Association of Japan; a representative director of the Japan Financial Service Intermediary Business Association and a director of the Japan Association for Financial APIs and Deputy Chair of the Cabinet Office’s National Strategic Special Zones Working Group; and the Innovative Technology/Business Model Evaluation Committee for Regulatory Sandbox of the Cabinet Office. He is also an Outside Director of BitFlyer K.K. (a registered Cryptoasset Exchange and Type-1 financial instruments business operator) and Auditor of Arithmer, an AI solutions company oriented from Tokyo University, and a member of the "Study Group for Ideal Approaches to a Certification Scheme Concerning Functions of Information Trust" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and a member of the Working Group on the Revision of Criteria for Safety Measures of the Special Committee for Safety Measures, The Center for Financial Industry Information Systems (FISC).

• Advised a major Japanese bank on an “information bank”, a new system for storing and usage of personal data based on guidelines issued by the Japanese government
• Advised on the creation of a voluntary self-regulatory organisation in the cryptocurrency industry and fintech industry, including negotiations with the Financial Services Agency and related associations and companies
• Examined interpretations at the time of determining detailed rules and regulations pursuant to the amended Banking Act, and was involved in a project of the Japanese Bankers Association and other associations to formulate a template of an API Utilisation Agreement
• Advised major Japanese financial institutions and other stakeholders on the creation of distributed securities using blockchain which is related to STOs
• Advised on a securities firm’s business in relation to a cryptoassets exchange and an agreement for providing securities APIs

• Banking and finance
• Capital markets
• Corporate and M&A
• Regulatory
• Intellectual property

• Banking and financial services
• Insurance
• Media and entertainment
• Pharmaceuticals and life sciences
• Technology and telecommunications

• Daini Tokyo Bar Association

• Keio University, B.S., 2004