Online brokerage Matsui Securities Co. and Resona Holdings Inc. will soon forge a business tieup under which individual investors will be able to open Matsui brokerage accounts at Resona group banking outlets, company sources said Friday.

The deal, which could be concluded in April, represents a step toward lowering the barriers between banks and brokerages ahead of the scheduled lifting in December of a ban on banks conducting securities business.

Until December, banks are barred form encouraging customers to invest in stocks or relaying stock buying or selling orders to brokerage firms.

Under the planned alliance with Matsui, however, Resona group banks will merely serve as agents for individual investors in account-opening in the Internet trading-only securities house.

The scheme will allow individual investors to open brokerage accounts with Matsui by filling out applications at the branches of Resona Bank, Saitama Resona Bank, Kinki Osaka Bank and Nara Bank that are controlled by Resona Holdings, the sources said.

They added that Resona will charge Matsui 3,000 yen per account.

Matsui, which has no branches, expects the partnership to help it obtain new individual clients by exploiting Resona's branch network and customer base, the sources said.

For Resona, which is reconstructing its group business after its core unit, Resona Bank, was recapitalized by the government last year, the tieup is expected to improve services for individual customers, the sources said.

Improving services for these customers is a major pillar of Resona's business reconstruction.