FinCity.tokyo

Interview: Leveraging High-Quality Data to Communicate the Attractiveness of the Japanese Market

Keisuke Komori, Director of Corporate Planning and Group Alliance, QUICK Corp., discusses the importance of communicating data-driven insights to overseas investors looking at Japan.

Could you tell us about QUICK’s business?

Our company is an information services provider focused on financial and economic data, including the calculation of the Nikkei Stock Average. QUICK was originally established as a joint venture by Nikkei and the four major securities companies for the purpose of digitizing the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s information. Because of this background, today, our services are considered essential within Japan’s securities industry.

Currently, our business is not limited to finance—we provide data-driven insights across a variety of fields. We have expertise in the entire process:  building databases, sourcing (scouting) the necessary data, analyzing it, and delivering outputs. Leveraging this strength, we provide valuable  information for both corporate management and local government operations.

For example, today, data analytics on tourism allows us to understand how many people from which countries visit a particular prefecture. By  combining this with various types of data, we can further uncover what products visitors from specific countries are purchasing and where, which in  turn helps with more effective information dissemination and addressing issues like overtourism.

In our core area of financial information, we continuously enhance our business to keep up with industry changes, such as the spread of AI and rising　 global attention to Japan’s markets. Our strengths include ESG data with more than 90 quantitative and qualitative indicators on public companies’  environmental, social, and governance initiatives, alternative asset-related data, and textual data extracted from integrated reports. Such value-added information goes beyond commonly available stock price and financial data.

Is being part of the Nikkei Group also one of your strengths?

The Nikkei name is widely recognized, not only in Japan but globally, thanks in part to the Nikkei Stock Average. This brand recognition, combined  with QUICK’s track record of providing clients with accurate data for over 50 years, has built a foundation of trust. With the addition of the Financial  Times to the Nikkei Group in 2015, our organization now boasts an overseas network that is on par with, if not stronger than, leading Western media
groups. Nikkei Asia’s growth has further expanded and strengthened our presence, particularly in Singapore and across Asia.

How do you view the Japanese market?

From 2022 until this spring, I was stationed in New York as President of Nikkei America.
Around the time the COVID-19 pandemic was winding down, I directly sensed a rapid increase in interest in Japanese companies and Japan’s market. In fact, at Nikkei America, revenue from data sales related to the Japanese market has now surpassed both corporate newspaper subscriptions and advertising revenue.

Globally, as political and economic volatility rises, Japan’s stability has become highly attractive as an investment destination. On the other hand,  during Japan’s so-called “lost 30 years,” the number of financial professionals worldwide who were well-versed in Japanese markets—especially at the individual company level— noticeably decreased.
There is still insufficient dissemination of necessary information about Japan to the world.

Japan characteristically has a large number of small and medium-sized companies. Many of these are not monitored by global analysts and thus are  less visible to investors. If the right information can be shared globally, I believe Japan’s market and its companies still have considerable potential to  grow.

How do you evaluate Tokyo as a financial center?

Tokyo certainly has a strong presence as a financial city, but what truly sets it apart is that it is not defined by finance alone. Many major corporations have their headquarters here, as do key government institutions in Kasumigaseki and the political center of Nagatacho.
Tokyo is a city where decision-makers from business, government, and politics are all concentrated. The ability for everything to be handled efficiently in such a compact area is unique even by global standards, and when you add Tokyo’s high quality of public infrastructure and safety, these factors become major strengths of the city.

You have been appointed as a new director of FinCity.Tokyo. What do you seek to accomplish in this new role?

Initiatives such as strengthening English-language IR activities among Japanese companies and promoting ESG scores are meaningful efforts to attract the attention of global investors to Japan’s top companies. Raising Tokyo’s profileoverseas also supports our own business objectives. By leveraging the Nikkei Group’s bases across Asia and the West, as well as the assets of the Financial Times, I hope to contribute to FinCity.Tokyo’s
communications and overall activities.