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The 2014 Tech 50: Yasuki Okai

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Yasuki Okai
Head, Financial Technology Solutions
Nomura Research Institute

Have a recovering economy and rising profits relieved Japanese financial institutions of their long-standing cost-cutting pressures? Not according to Yasuki Okai, who as Tokyo-based Nomura Research Institute’s head of financial technology solutions has a clear view of the investment climate. The ¥386 billion-in-revenue ($3.8 billion) information technology systems and consulting company’s clientele includes commercial and investment banks, asset managers and insurers. “Both the buy side and sell side are under tremendous pressure to reduce costs,” observes Okai, 51, who has worked for the onetime Nomura Securities International affiliate since 1988, the year its IT solutions business launched. Managements are making hard restructuring decisions, distinguishing between core businesses to invest in and noncore activities for outsourcing. The latter moves are common “especially in middle- and back-office functions,” Okai says, and NRI is at the ready. Last September it announced Post-Trade Plus, a custody and asset-servicing package for broker-dealers looking for economical infrastructure to support expansion across Asia. NRI enhanced its capabilities this year by purchasing 51 percent of Daiko Clearing Services Corp. from Nomura Holdings for ¥1.9 billion. “Clients can focus more on their core business by outsourcing,” says Okai. “They can invest more in their core business while gaining stable middle- and back-office infrastructure through us.”

The 2014 Tech 50

1
1
3
4
5
Thomas Secunda
Bloomberg
Jeffrey Sprecher
Intercontinental Exchange
Catherine Bessant
Bank of America Corp.
Stephen Neff
Fidelity Investments
Lance Uggla
Markit
6
7
8
9
10
Robert Goldstein
BlackRock
David Craig
Thomson Reuters
Phupinder Gill
CME Group
Anna Ewing
NASDAQ
OMX Group
R. Martin Chavez
Goldman Sachs Group
11
12
13
14
15
Deborah Hopkins
Citi Ventures
Dan Mathisson
Credit Suisse
Daniel Coleman
KCG Holdings
Michael Spencer
ICAP
Michael Bodson
Depository Trust &
Clearing Corp.
16
17
18
19
20
Joe Ratterman
BATS Global Markets
Dominique Cerutti
Euronext
Ron Levi
GFI Group
Gaurav Suri
D.E. Shaw Group
Charles Li
Hong Kong
Exchanges and
Clearing
21
22
23
24
25
Lou Eccleston
S&P Capital IQ
Lee Olesky
Tradeweb Markets
Richard McVey
MarketAxess Holdings
Seth Merrin
Liquidnet Holdings
Antoine
Shagoury

London Stock
Exchange Group
26
27
28
29
30
Christopher
Perretta

State Street Corp.
Kevin Rhein
Wells Fargo & Co.
Peter Carr
Morgan Stanley
Hauke Stars
Deutsche Börse
Robert Alexander
Capital One
Financial Corp.
31
32
33
34
35
David Gershon
SuperDerivatives
Chris Corrado
MSCI
Joseph Squeri
Citadel
Tanuja Randery
BT Global Services
John Bates
Software AG
36
37
38
39
40
Gary Scholten
Principal Financial Group
David Gledhill
DBS Bank
Simon Garland
Kx Systems
Cristóbal Conde
FinTech Innovation Lab
Jeff Parker
EidoSearch
41
42
43
44
45
Kim Fournais &
Lars Seier Christensen

Saxo Bank
Kenneth Marlin
Marlin & Associates
Tyler Kim
MaplesFS
Jim McGuire
Charles Schwab Corp.
Jim Minnick
eVestment
46
47
48
49
50
Steven O’Hanlon
Numerix
Sebastián Ceria
Axioma
Yasuki Okai
Nomura Research Institute
Niki Beattie
Market Structure Partners
Mas Nakachi
OpenGamma

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