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The 2016 Trading Technology 40: Masayuki Hosaka

No. 35 Masayuki Hosaka, Executive Director, Finance Business, Rakuten

35
Masayuki Hosaka
Executive Director, Finance Business
Rakuten
PNR

Rakuten Securities, a unit within the financial services arm of e-commerce and digital-content giant Rakuten, acquired Asian foreign exchange businesses from U.S.-based online trading firm Forex Capital Markets (FXCM) last year for $100 million. The move underscores the global growth ambitions of Rakuten, which has 100 million people registered for online shopping and a financial strategy that includes banking, brokerage, credit cards, insurance and even a $100 million fund for strategic investments in financial technology start-ups. “Since 2013, Rakuten Securities has been significantly expanding its equity trading and revenue due to the upward market trend brought about by Abenomics,” says Masayuki Hosaka, 61, an executive vice president at Rakuten and executive director of its finance business. The securities company is “aggressively expanding and diversifying its revenue sources.” Its purchase of FXCM Japan Securities Co. supported its strategy to become “the top FX service provider in Japan.” Adding FXCM Asia and FXCM Hong Kong represented “the first step in overseas business expansion,” and there will be “further business development,” says Hosaka, who joined Rakuten in 2006 as president of what is now Rakuten Card Co. after more than 25 years with ORIX Credit Corp. Elsewhere in his part of Tokyo-based Rakuten, online lending service Rakuten Super Business Loan Express has been introduced for merchants operating on Japanese e-commerce portal Rakuten Ichiba. Rakuten Smartpay, which handles card transactions through smart devices, has become Japan’s No. 1 e-payments vendor. “To expand our Rakuten ecosystem model overseas, we launched Rakuten Card in Taiwan, seeking synergies with the Taiwan Rakuten Ichiba e-commerce business,” Hosaka adds.

2016 Trading Technology 40

1. Raymond Tierney III
Bloomberg
2. Richard Prager
BlackRock
3. Chris Isaacson
BATS Global Markets
4. Jonathan Ross
KCG Holdings
5. Bradley Peterson
Nasdaq
6. Brad Levy
Markit
7. Dan Keegan
Citi
8. Ronald DePoalo
Fidelity Institutional
9. Raj Mahajan
Goldman Sachs Group
10. Ari Studnitzer
CME Group
11. Mayur Kapani
Intercontinental Exchange
12. Gerald O’Connell
CBOE Holdings
13. Nicholas Themelis
MarketAxess Holdings
14. Gil Mandelzis
EBS BrokerTec (ICAP)
15. Bill Chow and Richard Leung
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing
16. Rob Park
IEX Group
17. Philip Weisberg
Thomson Reuters
18. John Mackay (Mack) Gill
MillenniumIT
19. Robert Cornish
International Securities Exchange
20. Paul Hamill
Citadel Securities
21. Eric Noll
Convergex
22. Tyler Moeller and Joshua Walsky
Broadway Technology
23. Rishi Nangalia
REDI Holdings
24. Veronica Augustsson
Cinnober Financial Technology
25. Alasdair Haynes
Aquis Exchange
26. Manoj Narang
Mana Partners
27. Gaurav Suri
Arcesium
28. Robert Sloan
S3 Partners
29. Anton Katz and Stephen Mock
AQR Capital Mgmt
30. Stu Taylor
Algomi
31. D. Keith Ross Jr.
PDQ Enterprises
32. Donal Byrne
Corvil
33. Alfred Eskandar
Portware
34. R. Cromwell Coulson
OTC Markets Group
35. Masayuki Hosaka
Rakuten
36. Peter Maragos and David Karat
Dash Financial
37. Amar Kuchinad
Electronifie
38. Jennifer Nayar
SR Labs
39. Dave Snowdon
Metamako
40. Dan Raju
Tradier

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