zaitech

English

Etymology

From Japanese 財テク (zaiteku, “money management”), from blend of 財務 (zaimu, “financial dealings”) and テクノロジー (tekunorojii, “technology”), the latter, from English technology. The -tech in zaitech reflects the original borrowing of English technology.

Noun

zaitech (uncountable)

1. Application of financial engineering techniques in Japanese financial markets since their deregulation in 1984.
   • 1996, Walter Hatch, Asia in Japan's Embrace: Building a Regional Production Alliance, page 21:

     Not all of the capital raised in this way was channeled into new plant and equipment; a large amount was used for what came to be called zaitech, or financial engineering, which included the purchase of more real estate and securities offering higher and higher yield.

   • 1998, Frank Gibney, editor, Unlocking the Bureaucrat's Kingdom: Deregulation and the Japanese Economy, page 84:

     This in turn spurred the proliferation of zaitech — sophisticated financial operations on a global scale.

   • 2000, Stephen M. Harner, Japan's Financial Revolution and How American Firms Are Profiting, page 217:

     New financial technologies, like securitization, are playing an important role […] . And the leading sources of the new positive zaitech are firms like […]

2. Speculative financial investments, using simple financial leverage as well as financial engineering, in Japanese financial markets since their deregulation in 1984.
   • 1993, Roy C. Smith, Comeback: The Restoration of American Banking Power in the New World Economy, page 245:

     Such "high-tech" financial transactions are called 'zaitech' in Japan. Many old-timers thought zaitech was sinfully speculative […]

   • 2000, Stephen M. Harner, Japan's Financial Revolution and How American Firms Are Profiting, page 217:

     Inevitably, like the times themselves, the term zaitech later came to connote speculative and imprudent financial dabbling […]