Junya Umeno

Co-Chair, FIX Trading Community Japan Regional Committee
Managing Director
BlackRock Japan Co., Ltd.

Junya Umeno, Managing Director, is a member of Client Business in Blackrock Japan. He is in charge of managing relationship with OIG clients such as GPIF and BOJ.
Prior to the current role, Mr. Umeno was Head of Trading, Lending & Liquidity (TLL) at BlackRock Japan. He was responsible for coordinating and driving the Trading, Transition Management, Securities Lending and Cash Management business in Japan.
Mr. Umeno's service with the firm dates back to 2006, including his years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Prior to his current role, Mr. Umeno was Head of Trading in BlackRock Japan. Earlier, he spent several years as a senior trader at Franklin Templeton Investments.
Mr. Umeno earned a BA in Economics from Kobe University in 1996 and an MBA in Finance from Waseda University in 2006.

Masahiko Saito

Director of the Financial Markets Division
Financial Services Agency

Masahiko Saito joined the Financial Supervisory Agency (now the Financial Services Agency) in 2000 and was appointed Deputy Director of the Financial Markets Division of the Planning and Coordination Bureau in 2007. Masahiko was seconded to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2014 to 2016. Masahiko became Director of the Macro Analysis Office, Planning and Coordination Bureau in 2017. After serving as Secretary to the Minister of State for Financial Services, Masahiko has been in his current position since July 2023.

Ryutaro Kono

Chief Japan Economist
BNP Paribas Securities (Japan) Limited

Ryutaro Kono is Chief Japan Economist and Head of Global Markets Research Japan, responsible for analyzing and forecasting macroeconomic and policy developments in Japan.
Prior to joining BNP Paribas, Ryutaro was a senior economist at Dai-Ichi-Life Research Institute in Tokyo, where he was in charge of analyzing the macro economy and monetary policy. After graduating with a degree in economics from Yokohama National University, Ryutaro did a stint with Sumitomo Bank (currently Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation) before joining Daiwa International Capital Management (DICM) as an economist working on FX and interest rate forecasts and the US and Japanese economies. While at DIMC, Ryutaro went to New York as senior economist (in charge of analyzing the US economy and monetary policy) and then returned to Tokyo to become the senior portfolio manager (in charge of Pension Management Department). From July 2023, he has been a Visiting Senior Research Fellow of the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo.
Ryutaro has deep expertise in monetary and fiscal policy, and has worked as a member on various government panels dealing with fiscal affairs. Ryutaro is a frequent commentator on economic issues in the local press and television and has been repeatedly recognized as one of Japan’s top economists (voted No.1 3 consecutive years from 2021 and 10 of the last 15 years by Nikkei Veritas) and named top 5 forecasters for FY 2005, 2007, 2012, 2014 2015, 2020 by ESP Forecast (which has been currently operated by Japan Center for Economic Research).

Hiromi Yamaji

Group CEO, Japan Exchange Group, Inc.,
Japan Exchange Group, Inc.

Hiromi Yamaji is Group CEO of Japan Exchange Group, Inc. He joined the group in June 2013 as CEO of Osaka Exchange, Inc, then was appointed as CEO of Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. in April 2021.Before joining the group, he served as Executive Vice President and Head of Global Investment Banking at Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. During his career at Nomura, he served as CEO and Chairman of its overseas affiliates. He graduated from Kyoto University and holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Megumi Terayama

Director, Channel Management ESG　
S&P Dow Jones Indices

Megumi Terayama is Director, Channel Management ESG for S&P Dow Jones Indices. Before joining S&P Dow Jones indices, she has been leading ESG investing research as a Managing Director of the Institute of Social System Research at Nikko Research Center, Inc. She has more than five-year experience as a Senior Consultant at Mercer Japan, where she was a member of the Responsible Investment global team.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Kyoto University and a master’s degree in public affairs from School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University. CFA, CMA.

Nippei Yasuoka

Head of Japan Institutional Sales 　
Optiver

Nippei joined Optiver in February 2020 after 30 years of experience in Fixed Income and Equities sales trading roles. Prior to Optiver, Nippei managed APAC listed derivatives department at IBJ Lanston, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and recently at Deutsche Bank. Nippei graduated from Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA) with BS in Business Administration degree. Optiver is one of the oldest and leading market making firm in the world. Nippei’s role at Optiver is to provide liquidity to Japan / APAC institutional investors in multiple exchanges across the globe, trading options, futures, equities, FX, fixed income, and commodities products.

Raymond Meenan

Senior Manager/Co Desk Head
Japan and US Equity Products
BGC/GFI Group Japan

Ray, originally from Donegal, Ireland, came to Japan over 34 years ago, and after a few years of living (and learning to surf!) on Niijima Island, teaching there in Niijima High School as part of the JET Program, joined the Financial Markets as a Broker, initially on the Depot Markets doing DMS, ESP Depots and other European ccy pairs before moving on to broke FX Options. Ray worked on FX Options for 16 years, mainly at Tradition Financial Services and GFI before moving over to the Equity side and has been broking Equity Derivatives for the last 12 years.
Currently Ray works for BGC Shoken Kaisha Japan and co-runs their Equity Derivatives desk there. Ray was instrumental in helping launch the listed CME E-mini S&P 500 Options during Extended Trading Hours and continues to help grow the business. Ray also helped negotiate the first ever Broker traded Digital Asset Options and Futures Trade in Asia Blocking BTC Options and Futures on CME last year.

Tomiyuki Oji

Managing Director
Nomura Securities Co., Ltd

Apr 2002 - Mar 2006 School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo
Apr 2006 - Mar 2008 Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the University of Tokyo
Apr 2008 –Apr 2023 Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd.
Dec 2021 Global Markets, Equity Derivative Trading, Managing Director
Jul 2023 – Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.
Aug 2023 Head of Index Flow Derivatives Trading, Asia-Pacific, Managing Director

Minah Kim

Senior Director, Head of APAC Equity & Cryptocurrency Products
CME Group

Minah Kim serves as Senior Director, Equity & Cryptocurrency Products, Asia Pacific for CME Group, based in Singapore. She is responsible for the development and execution of CME Group’s global equity index and cryptocurrency product strategies in the region. Kim’s financial services career spans more than 20 years, including most recently serving as Executive Director at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong before she joined CME Group in 2017. As a sales trader, she was in charge of servicing clients who trade multinational exchange-listed derivatives during Asian hours. Before that, Kim worked for Citigroup in Korea where she established the local presence of its futures and options desk, as well as for J.P.Morgan, where she traded listed derivatives for both international and domestic Korean institutional clients.
Kim holds a Bachelor’s degree in Politics & Diplomacy from Ewha Womans University, Korea, and a MBA from University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.

Mark Randall

Director, Information Services
Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Mark Randall is the Director of Information Services at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the largest stock exchange in Africa. The JSE operates two cash markets and four derivative markets in South Africa, and the Information Services team under his leadership is responsible for the data assets of the Exchange across all six markets, including regulatory, real-time and end of day data.
Mark has over 15 years’ work experience in the data arena at the JSE. His experience spans market data licensing, data analytics and quantitative pricing, as well as reference data, indices, risk management and data governance. Mark is a member of the Actuarial Society of South Africa and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, and is an active member of the investment actuary community in South Africa.
As Director of Information Services, his mandate and passion is to revolutionise the way that the JSE thinks about its data assets and data strategy to entrench a modern data capability within the exchange and uncover new revenue opportunities for the exchange.

Hiroshi Matsubara

Co-chair, Japan Regional Committee
FIX Trading Community
Representative, Pine Grove Research

With more than 30-year industry experience in marketing financial information and electronic transaction products. Serves as Co-Chair of the Japan regional committee of FIX Trading Community since 2007 and has taken the industrial thought leadership role. Set up own business entity “Pine Grove Research” in 2021 focussed on new technologies in financial markets by mainly serving for off-shore FinTech firms. Previously spent 15 years at Fidessa (now ION Group) by overseeing product marketing and marketing communication activities. Originally worked for Reuters for 17 years holding various product marketing positions both in Japan and overseas (UK and US). Joined Reuters London as a graduate management trainee from Reuters Asia in 1987.

Takanobu Mizuta

Investment & Research Division
Fund Manager and Senior Researcher
SPARX Asset Management Co.,Ltd.

In 2002, Dr. Mizuta received a Master degree from Graduate School of Science, the University of Tokyo. In 2004, He joined SPARX Asset Management. In 2014, he received Ph.D. from School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo. From 2014 to 2022 he was a part-time lecturer of the Graduate School of Public Policy, the University of Tokyo. He won 3rd place award for IEEE CIFEr 2014, the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence Annual Conference Award 2020 and many other awards.

Masaki Bessho

Head of FinTech Center,
Payment and Settlement Systems Department
Bank of Japan

Masaki Bessho is Head of FinTech Center, Bank of Japan. His previous assignments at the Bank include Deputy Chief Representative for Europe and Head of Financial Infrastructure Studies Division of its Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies. He leads diverse research projects focusing on implications of novel technologies on financial systems and central banking services. He also represents the Bank at a number of domestic and international forums on digital currency and FinTech.

Akiko Imai

Global Head of New Sales
Virtu Financial

Ms. Imai is the Global Head of New Sales at Virtu Financial and a member of Virtu’s Global Management Committee.
Prior to her current role, Ms. Imai has built the POSIT Alert (Electronic Block) Asia-Pacific desk from scratch to an essential revenue stream, providing leadership for Virtu’s execution Business. In addition to leading the POSIT Alert business, Ms. Imai also focused on cross-selling products, resulting in increased footprints particularly in Japan where, in the past, Virtu had limited presence. Ms. Imai has a B.A. in Economics from Keio University Japan, and previously worked for Lehman Brothers and Nomura Securities in Tokyo. She won the Rising Star Women in Finance Award in New York in 2018.

Phil Chevalier

Co-Head of Virtu Execution Services APAC
Virtu Financial

Based in Singapore, Phil Chevalier serves as Co-Head of APAC’s Virtu Execution Services team and lends his expertise to help oversee the firm’s agency trading and Workflow Technology in the region. Phil joined ITG in 2015—prior to the firms’ 2019 acquisition by Virtu Financial.
Previously, Phil held roles in the financial technology field and specializing in execution management systems (EMSs), portfolio management and order management systems (OMSs) at firms such as Advent Software and Eze Software Group.
He holds a B.A. in both Political Science and Communications from Boston College.

Robert Capistron

Head of Analytical Client Services APAC
Virtu Financial

Rob Capistron heads the Virtu Analytics group in Asia Pacific, which supports Virtu’s multi-asset product suite including pre-trade, real-time, and post-trade analytics. More recently, Rob has been working with clients leveraging Virtu’s Open Technology API platform to more easily access their trading data to run in-depth trading strategy analysis. Prior to Rob’s move to Hong Kong, he managed Virtu’s Client Services team in NY, supporting the US institutional client base where he was heavily involved in the rollout of Virtu’s Algo Wheel reporting offering.
Rob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Boston College.

Richard Hills

Head of Client Engagement
big xyt

Richard Hills is Head of Client Engagement at big xyt and the strategy lead on the JSE Trade Explorer data analytics project, which is now under the direction of big xyt ecosystems, the new joint venture between the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and big xyt.
Richard has over 30 years’ experience in capital markets, and before joining big xyt, he established and ran the electronic trading business at a major European investment bank before becoming managing director of the global equities execution team.
Prior to that, Richard trained as a systems engineer with IBM before joining Accenture as a consultant in financial markets.

David　DeGraw

Head of Algorithmic Trading
Daiwa Securities Co. Ltd.

David Degraw is Head of Algorithmic Trading at Daiwa Securities Co. Ltd. Japan and a senior member of the Equity Data Science Department. David has over 24 years of experience across electronic trading, program trading, options, and delta-1 derivatives. David has worked at Daiwa for over 10 years specializing in algorithmic trading, smart order routing and was responsible for implementing DRECT, Daiwa’s Japan dark pool. He is the product owner for Daiwa’s algorithmic trading, dark pool and smart order routing platforms and responsible for data science initiatives within the agency trading business.
David has been a panel speaker and moderator at industry and trading conferences and a steering committee member of the bi-annual Japan Electronic Trading Conference hosted by the Japan FIX Trading Community. At Daiwa,
He has also led academic research collaboration with the University of Tokyo and has co-authored published research focused on applications of deep reinforcement learning and simulated artificial markets to novel trading probleHis data science team is a recipient of an Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics (AIDA) grant from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for the unique use case of an AI Optimized Algorithm Recommendation Model.
Prior to joining Daiwa, David worked at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Global Markets in proprietary options, program, and delta-one derivative trading roles. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from UC Berkley.

SI, Hua

Director
BofA Securities Japan Co., Ltd.

Hua joined BofA Securities Japan in 2010. He is mainly responsible for design and improve algos of Equities Electronic Trading, TCA analysis and algo customization. He is also consulting clients on market microstructure change and related issues. Hua received Ph.D. on Machine Learning from the University of Tokyo, Master of Financial Engineering from University of California, Berkeley, and Bachelor of Engineering from Tsinghua University.

Wataru Asano

Director, iShares Japan Global Markets
BlackRock Japan Co., Ltd.

Wataru Asano, Director, is in charge of the Global Markets team in BlackRock Japan’s ETF department. The Global Markets team is responsible for delivering market insights, execution services, and product structure expertise to iShares clients. The team also manages relationships with broker dealers and exchanges to bring trading and distribution expertise to the market. Finally, the team supports iShares’ efforts regarding ETF product and market structure issues to ensure a better ETF ecosystem.
Before joining BlackRock in 2014, Mr. Asano was Vice President at J.P. Morgan Securities, responsible for Cash Equities Program Trading. He joined J.P. Morgan’s Japan operations in 2007 and was a member of the Program Trading team until 2012. From 2001 to 2007, Mr. Asano was an index arbitrage trader on the equities desk at Dresdner Kleinwort Wassertstein Securities in Tokyo.
Mr. Asano earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Loyola Marymount University in 2001.

Gucci Yamaguchi

Head of Liquidnet Japan

Gucci joined Liquidnet Japan in 2006 as General Manager of IT Systems and Security. After engaging in sales for institutional investors, Gucci was appointed as Representative Director in September 2012. Prior to joining Liquidnet, he worked for AT&T/Lucent Technologies as a senior sales manager for network equipment sales for domestic telecom carriers and as a product manager at the US headquarters, where Gucci was in charge of Asian market development. After returning to Japan, Gucci served as President of Global Alliance Partners, where Gucci provided strategic advice to U.S. IT start-up companies on how to enter the Japanese market. Gucci holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics from Meiji University.

Yoshimasa Osumi

Trading Dept Senior Trader of Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd.

Yoshimasa Osumi joined Nomura Asset Management in 2011 and has 10 years of trading experience. He is responsible for trading in Japanese/Foreign equities, ETF, FX and Derivatives.
He holds a B.A. in Commerce from Waseda University. He completed a Blockchain Technologies Course of MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a CFA charterholder.

Kenji Takeda

Head of Equity Team
Sumitomo Mitui Trust Asset Management Co.,LTD.

Joined SMBC Friend Securities 2006 April as Retail Sales, followed by Japanese Equities Principle Trading desk. 2013 joined domestic Asset Management as Japanese Equity trader.
2020 February joined Mitsui Sumitomo Trust Asset Management as a senior trader for Global Equity trading team. Promoted to desk head as of April 2023, responsible for global equity and FX trading.

Gosuke Sakamoto

Senior Vice President, Electronic Sales Trading Equities Department
Jefferies Japan Ltd.

Gosuke Sakamoto captains the Electronic Trading desk for Jefferies Japan as a Senior VP, coverage for both international and domestic institutional clients.
Prior to Jefferies, Gosuke was at UBS in both Sales Trading and IT roles. He graduated from the University of Waterloo in Canada with a BMath in Computer Science.

Kaoru Hisaeda

Head of Business Development
Cboe Japan Limited

Since joined Chi-X Japan in 2010 as a start-up member, in charge of planning and promoting products and sales. Being in the current role since February 2022 after the acquision of Chi-X by Cboe Global Markets. In 2024, we will continue to implement measures to enhance the presence of PTSs and focus on launching and promoting the use of a new market (BIDS Japan) to further liven the Japanese equity execution market.

Satoshi Kashihara

Managing Director,
NOMURA SECURITIES CO., LTD.

Satoshi Kashihara joined Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.in June 2015 as a Head of Electronic Trading Services.He has been working as Deputy Head of Trading Services Department.

Hiroki Kawai

Senior Executive Officer (Equities, ETF Market Development, Financial Literacy Support and Equities Business Development)
Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.

Hiroki Kawai is Senior Executive Officer and leads Equity Trading Business, ETF listing and trading Business, Financial Literacy Support and Equities Business Development since 2017.
He leads the teams responsible for the entire Cash Equity Trading encompassing trading rule making, market monitoring, management of margin trading and client relations management to ensure the stable trading service and stay market modernized.
He also oversees ETF Market Development, which was formed to raise the ETF primary and secondary market comprehensively in 2022 and Financial Literacy Support of which mission is to contribute the progress of Japanese Investor’s financial literacy.

Mie Kobayashi

Head of GSET Japan
Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd.

Mie started her career at Merrill Lynch in 2005 as middle office, moved to Electronic Trading Sales trading from 2007. From 2012 she moved to Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading covering onshore/offshore clients trading APAC markets. She has been assigned head of GSET Japan business since 2023, covering domestic/offshore clients trading APAC markets.

Mai Tanaka

Managing Director
Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd.

Started career as a FX trader, working on the buy-side and sell-side before joining Nomura Asset. After joining the Nomura Asset, started career in FX and Fixed income, then moved on to money market, lending and Japanese Equity trading operations. From 2019, became a playing manager on the UK trading desk. Current position from Apr 2023.

Taichi Baba

Executive Director, Head of Program Trading
UBS Securities Japan Co., Ltd.

Taichi Baba joined UBS has Head of Program Trading in 2013. In 2020 he took on the added responsibilities of heading the firm’s futures as well as domestic Japanese client execution businesses. He began his financial industry career with Merrill Lynch in 2003, trading special sits and merger arbitrage, and moving on to the program trading business in 2005. Taichi is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University with majors in Economics and International Relations as well as a minor in Mathematical Sciences.

Yuki Tanaka

The head of Transition Management Japan,
Vice President
BlackRock Japan Co., Ltd.

Yuki Tanaka, Vice President, is Client Strategist for the APAC Transition Management(TRIM).
Mr. Tanaka is responsible for the business development and origination of transition mandates for not only Japan but also Asia countries.
TRIM manages the orderly implementation of complex transition events for large institutional investors across multi-asset portfolios. Transition management has become an essential service in the investment lifecycle for asset owners. Clients can maximise cost savings, minimise risks and reinforce discipline and accountability during periods of significant portfolio change.
Mr. Tanaka's service with the firm began in 2011. Prior to his current role, Mr. Tanaka was responsible for Global Trading as a trader at BlackRock. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Tanaka was a senior trader at Nissay Asset Management in Japan where he was responsible for both Japanese and internantional equity trading.
Mr. Tanaka earned a BA in Economics from Keio University in 2006 and an MBA degree in Finance from Waseda University in 2012.

Miho Yamanaka

Head of Japan Sustainability Office
Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co., Ltd.

Miho Yamanaka joined Morgan Stanley Institutional Equities Division in 2007. She became the COO of Bank Resource Management Japan, then APAC, and the Head of Bank Resource Management Division in 2019. After taking on roles as CAO and Head of Business Strategy for Institutional Equities Division in 2022, she was appointed as Head of Japan Sustainability Office in January 2023.

Miho received a BA in Foreign Language and Studies from Sophia University.

Yasunori Kasai

Director, Japan Product Management,
Data & Analytics
LSEG

Yasunori is leading the strategic business design across the business lines for Japan, LSEG since 2021. Prior to this, he was managing customer proposition of Trading business for pan-Asia, which includes information desktop terminal, transaction and news business since 2013. He also has product management experience in ex-Reuters, 20+ years experience in data provider. He has in total 5+ years experiences in securities houses.

Akimi Su

Executive Director
JPMorgan Asset Management
(Asia Pacific) Limited

Akimi Su, joined J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc. Tokyo Branch as a trader in 2005 after her tenure at two brokerage firms. Her role included overseeing foreign and domestic single stocks, baskets, derivatives, and FX as well as quantitative analytics such as transaction cost analysis and market microstructure research. After the restructuring and merger of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, she became a Japanese equity trader. She later changed her role from being a quant (LT) trader to a specialist (HT) trader. She relocated to Hong Kong in 2019 and currently specializes in all Asia Pacific equities as a specialist.

Hitoshi Suko

Chief Manager　Equity Group Trading Division
Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co.,Ltd.

Hitoshi joined Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management in Dec 2008, and in 2010 was appointed Head of Domestic Stock Trading. Hitoshi developed systems for various trading aspects, including OMS, TCA, and algo strategies. Led integration of trading and its system with Kokusai Asset management in 2015 and MU Investments in 2023. Prior to his current role, Hitoshi started as a system engineer in 2004 and system integration at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking.

Shino Watanabe

Director
Electronic Execution
Equity Execution Services, Equity Markets
Citigroup Global Markets Japan Inc.

Shino joined Citigroup Global Markets Japan in 2022 to manage the Equity Electronic Trading business. Prior to joining Citi, Shino held various roles in Electronic Trading at Bank of America and Credit Suisse, covering responsibilities such as platform marketing and Execution performance consultancy. She has more than 15 years of experience covering Pan-Asia equity trading, primarily focused on Japan.