Mamoru Yanase

Deputy Director-General, Strategy Development and Management Bureau

Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA)

Mamoru Yanase has been assigned to the current position since June 2022. His responsibility includes promotion of fintech and supervision of the fintech industry such as funds transfer services and crypto exchanges as well as AML/CFT policies for the financial sector.
He joined the Ministry of Finance of Japan in 1992 and has held various positions at the JFSA, the MOF and the International Monetary Fund mainly in the area of macroeconomic and financial sector policies. He graduated from the University of Tokyo (LL.B) in 1992 and the University of California, Berkeley (MBA) in 1996.

Akinobu Funayama

Digital Strategy Department
Joint General Manager
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.

Joined Sumitomo Bank in 1998. After being assigned to a branch, he was engaged in corporate and individual transactions, and after working on operational efficiency improvement planning and call center planning, he led numerous projects in the IT Planning Department, including the development of electronic contract terminals, the first implementation of Office365 in a Japanese bank, and projects utilizing advanced AI technologies such as chatbots.
In 2021, he became the office representative of SMBC Silicon Valley Digital Innovation Lab, promoting SMFG's DX and new business development through collaboration with regional global startups, etc. He will assume his current position in April 2023.

Hisato Hirakata

Digital Transformation Department, General Manager, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited
COO, Trust Base Co, Ltd

Joined The Sumitomo Trust and Banking in 1997. He gained a wide range of experience in investment and financing at a trust bank, including individual business at a branch, financing business at the Corporate Banking Department, and investment management business for institutional investors at the Fiduciary Department. He has been in charge of DX in the Digital Division since 2017, and will assume his current position in 2021.

Yosuke Shiraishi

CEO, ARIGATOBANK, Inc.
CEO, MZ Cryptos, Inc.

Joined Yahoo! JAPAN Corporation in 2012 He launched Yahoo! Money and PayPay, becoming the head of payment products. Launched a digital currency business in 2019 as CTO at DeCarret Inc. Became a member of StartToday Inc. in 2020 and founded ARIGATOBANK Co. Became Representative Director of ARIGATOBANK Inc. He is also a representative director of MZ Cryptos Inc. and an outside director of Hashport Inc. as well as a General Partner of MZWeb3Fund and Adovisor of Decima Fund, launching and investing in web3 businesses and advocating as a JCBA board member and industry association.

Tatsuya Saito

Founder and CEO
Progmat, Inc.

Joined Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation in 2010. After working in corporate sales, business planning, and IT planning, he established the Center of FinTech Office in 2016 and planned and promoted Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking's digital strategy as the first full-time staff member. As a "serial entrepreneur", he has been involved in the development and implementation of several digital platforms including "Dprime", "Progmat", "Progmat Coin", and "Progmat UT". Launch of the "Digital Asset Co-Creation Consortium" and other initiatives, in which many organizations are members. In 2022, he announced the formation of an independent company for the digital asset infrastructure business with investments from several financial institutions, exchanges, and software companies, and he has been CEO since the company's founding in October 2023. He has 8 patents registered.

Ken Kawai

Partner
Anderson Mori & Tomotsune

Ken has extensive experience advising global and local financial institutions, fintech firms, self-regulatory organizations, as well as investors and corporate clients across a number of industry sectors on complex financial regulatory matters. Ken is known as one of the leading figures in fintech law area. Ken regularly advises clients on all fintech related legal issues, including cryptocurrencies, digital securities, NFTs, digital asset investment funds, cross-border electronic payments, open banking and metaverse.

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 working 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.

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.

Kei Okazaki

Head of ETF Secondary Trading
Tokyo Stock Exchange

Kei Okazaki is responsible for liquidity of ETFs on Tokyo Stock Exchange. He came to the current position in June, 2013.
Since April 2022, serving in the ETF Business Development and New Listings as well and involved in the overall improvement of the ETF market, including planning for active ETF as well as developing strategies for the market as a whole.

Takeki Yamada

Head of Japan Business, Institutional Trading,
Flow Traders

Takeki Yamada works as an institutional trader at Flow Traders where he is responsible for the relations with institutional investors in Japan. Flow Traders provides liquidity for globally listed ETFs in all asset classes as an official market maker for many exchanges including TSE, HKEX, and SGX. Flow Traders has been awarded as Best Market Maker for 3 consecutive years, as well as Best Market Maker in TSE CONNEQTOR platform. Prior to joining Flow Traders in 2017, he worked as an Japanese equity sales trader at Nomura based in Tokyo, covering Japanese institutional investors as well as Instinet Europe based in London where he covered European and US institutional investors for global equities. He has a master's degree in Information Science and Technology at Hokkaido University.