Thinking beyond company boundaries about what comes next for the securities industry amid the Covid crisis
The Securities Solution Division held a series of online roundtable meetings for securities companies in July 2020. These were Zoom meetings with seven companies that use NRI’s STAR system and that support the goals of this project, and the participants shared their thoughts on the topic of conducting securities business operations under the current Covid-19 state of emergency.
The meetings were split up into three sessions under a symposium format, and they were attended mainly by manager-level representatives in charge of system operations at their companies. The first session was held on July 9, 2020 following the lifting of the state of emergency, with Ace Securities and Hikari Securities from western Japan. The next session was conducted on July 29 with Kyokuto Securities, Meiwa Securities, and Yamawa Securities, local securities firms from eastern Japan. The last meeting took place on July 31 with two securities firms associated with regional banks from eastern and western Japan, Hachijuni Securities and Hirogin Securities.
Photos: Shots of the July 9 meeting. (Left) NRI members participating from a conference room (Right) From top: Ace Securities member Mr. Minami, and Hikari Securities member Mr. Fukawa
Finding solutions to challenges facing the securities industry by contemplating the issues together with our clients
The agenda set for these meetings focused on how securities companies managed to achieve business continuity amid the state of emergency that was in effect from April to May 2020 to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Within this context, NRI’s participants learned about our clients’ current situations to ascertain the struggles and challenges that they experienced, discussing subjects including how they should go about running their securities operations going forward.
Our clients cited certain challenges brought about by the pandemic, citing for instance that “Even if we leveraged digital technology to the utmost, there would still be order-related operations and document-related operations, so right now it’d be difficult to complete all our operations online,” and “We think it’ll be necessary to make use of web conferences and make other business style reforms in dealing with our investors.” A large number of solutions utilizing digital technology were also proposed by our clients and NRI members alike, including the creation of new solutions for opening accounts or for receiving and placing orders, and solutions that would enable business to be done with investors on a web screen. Overall the discussion made for a lively exchange of ideas.
Going forward, NRI will build upon and expand these kinds of initiatives as an opportunity to seek out new value together with its clients.
Photos: (Left) Shots from the July 29 meeting (Right) Shots from the July 31 meeting
