Makoto Shibata
Head of FINOLAB & Chief Community OfficerFINOLAB
Makoto Shibata oversees community management and ecosystem development at FINOLAB, a leading FinTech hub in central Tokyo with more than 60 startup members and 30 corporate and industry-group members. Before assuming his current role at FINOLAB in 2019, he was responsible for emerging technology R&D and digital financial services planning at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (now MUFG Bank), following a diverse banking career that began at The Bank of Tokyo and included corporate planning, corporate finance, accounting, and retail banking.
In 2018, Makoto became an Executive Fellow at Japan Digital Design, MUFG’s innovation-focused subsidiary, and spent six months as an Academic Visitor at the University of Oxford to conduct FinTech research. He has also served as an external board member at UI Bank since it obtained its license in 2021.
Makoto holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Tokyo and an MSc in Development Economics from the University of Oxford.