Japan’s top research providers are looking to the future.
At SMBC Nikko Securities, the research team is “keen to cultivate young analysts to write reports and initiate coverage,” according to director or research Takaaki Muramatsu, director of research at SMBC Nikko Securities. He cited this as key to the firm’s innovation plan, and reported hiring several junior analysts to initiate small and growth stock coverage.
“We built a great training system for them,” guided by management, Muramatsu added.
In a competitive domestic field, with the Covid-19 pandemic and distributed workforces entering their third year, investing in young talent can be a key differentiator, said Hidekatsu Watanabe, head of Japan equity research at Mizuho Securities Co.
“While it may be difficult to effectively stand out among the major brokerages, we have been focused on creating collaborative reports and in-depth reports and leveraging IT and virtual seminars in this era of work-from-home,” Watanabe said. “At the same time, I believe we are ahead of the curve when it comes to passing on the baton to the next generation, training our younger analysts, and bolstering their capabilities.”
Clients appear to agree...
To select the members of our 29th annual Japan Research Team, Institutional Investor solicited opinions of directors of research and heads of investment firms with major securities holdings in Japan. We received responses from over 1,000 individuals at 422 firms.
Participants rated their top firms in each sector and then separately rated individual analysts or economists/strategists at those firms to create two distinct rankings for each sector. A numerical score was produced by weighting each vote by the respondent’s Japanese equity commissions and the average rating awarded to create the Commission-weighted leader rankings. The same scores were weighted by each voting firm’s Japanese equity assets under management to produce the AUM-weighted rankings.
Using these scores, ranks were determined. Firms/analysts were designated runners‐up when their scores came within 35 percent of the third-place scores. For the analyst rankings, the cut-off date for individuals is the date of the survey opening (8th November 2021).
The individuals surveyed are kept confidential to ensure continuing cooperation. Voters are subject to eligibility requirements, and winners must achieve a minimum vote count. All ballots are subject to review by our Research Operations Group.
These results were compiled by Senior Project Manager Tucker Ewing, along with Xiao Lu and Michael Clemons.