Meanings
- uncountableApplication of financial engineering techniques in Japanese financial markets since their deregulation in 1984.
This in turn spurred the proliferation of zaitech — sophisticated financial operations on a global scale.
1998, Frank Gibney, editor, Unlocking the Bureaucrat's Kingdom: Deregulation and the Japanese Economy, page 842 more examples
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.
1996, Walter Hatch, Asia in Japan's Embrace: Building a Regional Production Alliance, page 21New financial technologies, like securitization, are playing an important role […]. And the leading sources of the new positive zaitech are firms like […]
2000, Stephen M. Harner, Japan's Financial Revolution and How American Firms Are Profiting, page 217 - uncountableSpeculative financial investments, using simple financial leverage as well as financial engineering, in Japanese financial markets since their deregulation in 1984.
Inevitably, like the times themselves, the term zaitech later came to connote speculative and imprudent financial dabbling […]
2000, Stephen M. Harner, Japan's Financial Revolution and How American Firms Are Profiting, page 2171 more example
Such "high-tech" financial transactions are called 'zaitech' in Japan. Many old-timers thought zaitech was sinfully speculative […]
1993, Roy C. Smith, Comeback: The Restoration of American Banking Power in the New World Economy, page 245
Origin
- Englishtechnology
- Japanese財テク“money management”
- Englishzaitech
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.
More words from Japanese, English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
zaitech. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zaitech
“zaitech.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zaitech. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “zaitech,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zaitech.
Source: zaitech on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.