Hokkoku FHD (北國 FHD)

Wiki route

This entry sits under regional-banks INDEX. Read it against Fukuoka FG (FFG) for peer / contrast context and banking index for the broader system / regulatory boundary.

Current-name route: CCI Group. This page remains as the historical / old-name Hokkoku FHD bridge for older research notes and links.

Overview

A regional-bank holding company based in Ishikawa Prefecture (TSE PRIME 7381). It was established through a sole share transfer of 2021-10-01 Hokkoku Bank and changed its trade name to CCI Group in 2025-10-01. Its asset size is in the mid-tier regional-bank class, but it is known as a “digitally advanced regional bank” in a class of its own within the regional-banking industry. It became the first regional bank to adopt Microsoft Azure in 2008 年, migrated its core banking system to an open core system (Windows servers + .NET based) in 2010 年, and renewed its branch counter terminals to Surface in 2017 年, sustaining an IT path that anticipated industry conventions by more than 10 years. In 2023 年 it launched the ICT-consulting subsidiary “Digital Value” and the BaaS platform “Tonari,” advancing a transformation into a “regional-bank-born digital platformer.” It is one of the regional-bank DX leaders alongside fukuoka-fg (Minna Bank).

1. Company overview

Legal name: 株式会社北國フィナンシャルホールディングス English name: Hokkoku Financial Holdings, Inc. Securities code: TSE PRIME 7381 Established: 2021-10-01 (holding-company conversion via sole share transfer of Hokkoku Bank) Head office: Hirooka 2-12-6, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture (Hokkoku Bank head-office building)

Main subsidiaries / holdings

Hokkoku FHD (holding company, listed 7381)
  ├── Hokkoku Bank (100%) ── Ishikawa Prefecture share No.1  regional bank, core business
  │     └── within Ishikawa Prefecture + adjacent expansion into Toyama, Fukui, Tokyo, Osaka, etc.
  ├── Digital Value (100%, established 2023-04 ) ── ICT-consulting subsidiary
  │     └── DX support for corporations / municipal-government DX
  ├── Hokkoku Management (100%) ── management consulting / regional-enterprise support
  ├── Hokkoku Credit (100%) ── credit cards
  └── Hokkoku e-Payment (100%) ── payment-related

“Tonari” is less a subsidiary than a BaaS (Banking as a Service) platform brand that Hokkoku Bank / Digital Value provides to other regional banks and regional financial institutions.

2. Mergers / history

1943: Hokkoku Bank established (wartime consolidation of Kashu Bank + Kanou Godo Bank + Noto Bank, etc.)
2008: First regional bank to adopt Microsoft Azure, shocking the industry
2010: Migrated the core banking system to an open core system (Windows + .NET based) — unprecedented in the regional-banking industry and widely discussed
2017: Renewed branch counter terminals to Surface tablets, fundamentally rethinking paper-based operations
2021-10-01: Hokkoku FHD established via sole share transfer; Hokkoku Bank becomes a 100% subsidiary
2023-04: Established the ICT-consulting subsidiary Digital Value and simultaneously began offering the BaaS platform “Tonari”
2024-01-01: Noto Peninsula Earthquake occurred (epicenter in Ishikawa Prefecture; maintaining financial functions in the disaster area became a management issue)
2024: New medium-term management plan (oriented toward becoming a regional DX platformer)

3. Business-segment map

Segment	Main entity	Characteristics
In-prefecture retail	Hokkoku Bank	Ishikawa Prefecture share No.1 (both deposits and loans), dominant base
In-prefecture corporate	Hokkoku Bank	Main bank for Hokuriku local enterprises, strong with mid-tier / SME
Adjacent-prefecture expansion	Hokkoku Bank	Branches in Toyama, Fukui, Tokyo, Osaka, with a Hokuriku base
ICT consulting	Digital Value	DX support for regional enterprises / municipalities (external sale of in-house expertise)
BaaS	Tonari	Provides core systems / APIs / operational systems to other regional banks
Cards / payments	Hokkoku Credit / Hokkoku e-Payment	Regional payments
Microsoft partnership	Company-wide	Azure / Surface / Microsoft 365 as the foundation for all operations

”Regional-bank-born digital platformer” orientation

Hokkoku FHD’s strategy can be called one of a kind in the regional-banking industry. Whereas an ordinary regional bank rides on a “vendor-dependent shared core system (NTT Data, Japan Unisys, Hitachi, etc.),” Hokkoku placed Microsoft Azure at its in-house foundation from 2008 年 onward and opened up the core banking system itself. The productization of this accumulation is 2023 年’s Tonari (BaaS), stepping into an “IT-company-ization” strategy that sells to other regional banks the very DX foundation that it itself uses.

Long-term Microsoft partnership

The Microsoft / Azure partnership since 2008 年 is among the longest in the regional-banking industry. The Surface tablet introduction (2017) and the company-wide rollout of Microsoft 365 are also choices that deliberately swallow vendor lock-in to prioritize the speed of operational reform.

Competitors / reference points

The leading reference point as a regional-bank DX leader is fukuoka-fg (Minna Bank = a fully cloud-native digital bank). However, the two strategies are contrasting: Fukuoka FG is “nationwide digital expansion under a new brand,” while Hokkoku FHD is “digitizing the operational foundation of an existing regional bank itself and selling it to other regional banks.” The revenue sources they target also differ.

Noto Peninsula Earthquake (2024-01-01)

With the epicenter in Ishikawa Prefecture’s Noto region, maintaining financial functions in the disaster area is both a management issue and a social responsibility. The advance of digitization is credited with having worked for BCP (business continuity), while on the other hand the burden of disaster-area reconstruction lending and branch-network reorganization could affect finances over the medium-to-long term.

5. Regulation / policy

Supervision: Financial Services Agency (FSA), Hokuriku Local Finance Bureau
Business type: Bank holding company (Banking Act), member of the Regional Banks Association
Recent policy points:
- 2024〜 BoJ policy-rate normalization → interest-margin improvement bonus across regional banks
- 2024〜 Noto Peninsula Earthquake disaster-area reconstruction (special lending / moratorium responses)
- 2024〜 reorganization of the BaaS / shared-core-system market (Tonari as an alternative option to the NTT Data “Regional Bank Joint Center” / “STELLA CUBE” camps)

7. Open questions

How far will Tonari’s number of adopting regional banks / revenue scale grow? Will regional banks emerge that switch over from the NTT Data / Japan Unisys shared core systems?
What is the non-performing-loan risk of disaster-area reconstruction lending after the Noto Peninsula Earthquake? Provisioning trends from 2026〜2027
How far will Digital Value’s municipal-DX business expand outside Ishikawa Prefecture?
Will Hokkoku FHD be incorporated into regional-bank reorganization (the SBI 4 megabank concept / adjacent hokuhoku-fg, etc.), or will it stay on an independent path?
How far will the deepening of the Microsoft partnership progress (implementation potential in the generative-AI / Copilot domain)?

fukuoka-fg — the other regional-bank DX leader, which holds Minna Bank, with a contrasting strategy
hokuhoku-fg — a regional-bank FG with an adjacent Hokuriku base (Toyama, Hokkaido)
shizuoka-fg · concordia-fg · mebuki-fg — mid-tier to large regional-bank FGs
mufg · smfg · mizuho-fg — megabanks (reference)
sbi-hd — forms a regional-bank coalition under the 4 megabank concept
Related wiki: minna-bank-baas-model (BaaS comparison)

Sources

Wikipedia: 北國フィナンシャルホールディングス (public information)
Wikipedia: 北國銀行 (public information; the Microsoft Azure adoption / core-system opening / Surface introduction are each described)
Hokkoku FHD official IR (holding-company establishment 2021-10-01, Digital Value establishment 2023-04, Tonari service launch 2023)

[!info] Verification status confidence: likely (v1.0 public-information based 2026-05-19). The Microsoft Azure adoption year (2008), core-system opening year (2010), Surface introduction year (2017), and Digital Value establishment / Tonari service-launch year (2023-04) are based on Wikipedia / public IR. The specific financial impact of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake damage should be confirmed in securities reports from the 2025-03 period onward.