RakutenSecurities said its general securities account base crossed 14 million inApril, with the online broker adding 1 million accounts in roughly five monthsas Japanese households continue shifting cash deposits into stocks, funds, andtax-advantaged investment wrappers.Singapore Summit: Meet the largestAPAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)TheMinato-ku-headquartered firm, a unit of internet conglomerate Rakuten Group,said the figure makes it the largest domestic securities company by totalnon-consolidated accounts, based on its own aggregation of publicly discloseddata from rivals. Five Months for EachMillion as Pace QuickensThe latestmilestone follows a steady cadence of account growth at Rakuten Securities over the past two and a half years.The broker, founded in 1999 as Japan's first online-only securities firm, hit10 million accounts in December 2023, 11 million in April 2024, 12 million inJanuary 2025, and 13 million in November 2025. The roughlyfive-month gap between the 13 million and 14 million marks tracks the pace seenearlier in 2024 and 2025.Presidentand Chief Executive Yuji Kusunoki has overseen a product push aimed at loweringentry barriers for first-time investors, including making domestic stocktrading commission-free in October 2023 and rolling out a service the firmcalls KabuPita, which lets retail customers buy Japanese shares from 100 yen in1-yen increments.The companyalso said it has introduced AI-driven analytical tools for Japanese and USequity investing, a margin trading product branded Rakuraku Credit, and RakutenMoney Fund, an MRF-style cash management vehicle. On thesecurity side, the firm said it has rolled out passkey authentication based onthe FIDO2 standard across its trading tools and apps.SBI Remains the RivalQuestion Mark in Account TalliesRakuten'sclaim to the top spot in Japan's online retail brokerage market comes with amethodological caveat the company itself flags. SBI Securities, widely cited bythe industry and partners as Japan's largest online brokerage, does notpublicly disclose its individual account count. Rakuten'scomparison uses an SBI figure dating to the end of March 2021, while pullingfresher numbers from Nomura Securities and Daiwa Securities, which reportcustomer accounts with remaining balances, and SMBC Nikko, which disclosestotal accounts.Internationalbrokers have also been pushing harder into the market. Interactive Brokerslaunched tax-advantaged NISA accounts throughits Japanese unit in mid-2025, pitching access to more than 160 global exchanges as a differentiatoragainst domestic incumbents. Beyondsecurities, Japan's broader retail trading ecosystem includes more than 150 licensed FX andsecurities providers,with names such as GMO Click Securities, DMM FX, and Monex Group dominatingretail FX volumes alongside Rakuten.This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.