Japan’s SBI Holdings has taken a minority stake in US broker Clear Street in a $50 million deal that paves the way for a new joint venture in Japan focused on asset management and prime brokerage services.
SBI Buys In, Plans Japan Venture
SBI made the investment via its US subsidiary, SBI Holdings USA. The stake represents less than 1% of the US firm, which is working toward an initial public offering on the Nasdaq market. Alongside the capital injection, SBI and Clear Street agreed to pursue a partnership with a view to creating a joint venture in Japan.
The planned entity will reportedly focus on asset management-related services at launch, with scope to expand into equities trading, prime brokerage and digital asset-related businesses as the partnership develops.
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Clear Street operates as a prime broker to hedge funds and other institutional investors, providing execution and settlement for large volumes of securities trades as well as securities lending and financing.
Prime brokerage services for Japanese equities are still largely delivered by major foreign financial institutions. These incumbents typically offer limited automation and focus on a relatively small number of very large institutional investors, leaving smaller hedge funds and high-net-worth individuals with restricted access to full-scope capabilities.
Clear Street Files for IPO
SBI and Clear Street intend to use the joint venture to address those gaps. Clear Street filed for an initial public offering, revealing strong financial growth in 2025. According to Bloomberg, the company’s SEC filing shows a sharp increase in both revenue and profitability for the first nine months of the year.
Net income attributable to shareholders rose to $157.2 million on $783.7 million in revenue through September 2025, up from $20.7 million in profit and $301.9 million in revenue during the same period in 2024, according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Last year, Clear Street launched its outsourced trading desk and appointed former UBS executive Morgan Ralph to lead the initiative from its new office at 4 World Trade Center.
The new service focuses on hedge funds, asset managers, and family offices seeking to enhance execution and access real-time trading tools without expanding their internal trading teams.