Sakana AI and Daiwa Securities Group to Develop AI for Advanced Asset Consulting

Sakana AI has found its way into Japan's brokerage world. The Tokyo-based AI company announced a partnership with Daiwa Securities Co. Ltd., part of Daiwa Securities Group Inc., led by President and CEO Akihiko Ogino. It's the first time Sakana has struck a deal with a securities firm, and the pairing says a lot about where the company wants to go next: straight into the money business.

The plan centers on something called a Total Asset Consulting Platform, built jointly by both companies and powered by Sakana AI's own models. The pitch is straightforward but ambitious — use AI to look at a client's entire financial picture, not just a slice of it, and tailor advice accordingly. Daiwa has built its reputation on that kind of holistic, client-first approach for years. Now it wants AI to help scale it, reaching new investors and high-net-worth clients alike with the same level of personalized attention.

For Daiwa, this fits neatly into a mid-term plan that already leans hard on what the company calls Digital Innovation. Markets move fast, client needs are getting more varied, and Daiwa clearly sees AI as a way to keep pace rather than fall behind. Sakana AI, for its part, has spent time pushing its agent technology into real business problems across finance, and this partnership marks its most concrete move yet with a major securities player.

Nothing is fully built yet. Both companies say they'll form a working group to develop and roll out the system in stages, rather than all at once — a sensible approach given how much trust and regulation surrounds financial advice. Still, the ambition is clear: turn AI-driven consulting into something available to everyday investors, not just the wealthy few who typically get white-glove treatment.