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The 2016 Trading Technology 40: Masayuki Hosaka
No. 35 Masayuki Hosaka, Executive Director, Finance Business, Rakuten


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.
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![]() 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 |
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