S&P DJI hosted the 10th Annual ETF Conference in Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel to explore the continued growth and evolution of the Asian ETF landscape. Domestic and foreign ETF related professionals, such as institutional investors, asset management companies, securities companies and banks were invited to the conference.

As well as last year, the second floor of main building of Imperial Hotel was reserved for the venue throughout the day, consisting of main speakers room, breakout sessions room, exhibition area, and lunch/dinner/networking room. The number of pre-registrants reached record high of over 1,000, increased more than ordinary years from overseas mainly in Asia such as Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as domestic attendees.

The following photographs show the state of the conference.

【08:55】 Opening Remarks
Douglas L. Peterson, President and Chief Executive Officer, S&P Global

【09:00】 Keynote Speech
Koichiro Miyahara, President & CEO, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.

Session 1: Taking a Closer Look at the Global ETP Market

【09:10】 Analyzing Global and ETP Markets
John Davies, Global Head of Exchange Traded Products, S&P Dow Jones Indices

【09:25】 Exploring the History and Creation of ETFs

James E. Ross, Chairman of the Global SPDR Business, State Street Global Advisors

Todd Hollander, Senior Member, ETF Sales & Trading Team, Jane Street

  ≪Interviewer≫

Deborah Fuhr, Partner and Co-Founder, ETFGI

Session 2: Expanding Needs for ETFs from Investors

【09:50】 The Global ETF Landscape: Recent Trends and Future Prospects
Hiroyuki Arita, President & Representative Director, BlackRock Japan Co., Ltd.

【10:10】 The new world of global asset management
Michael Jones, Chairman and CIO, Riverfront Investment Group

【10:25】 Growth of Passive Investment: Launch of New Passive Products including ETFs
Toshihiro Iwasaki, Chairman, The Investment Trusts Association, Japan

【10:40】 Panel Discussion 1: The new ETF Business model to meet demands of investors

 ≪Panelists≫

Yoshihiro Hamada, Product Div. / Head of Product Strategy Planning Group, Asset Management One

David Collins, Board Director, Head of Marketing/ETF Business, State Street Global Advisors (Japan) Co., Ltd.

Grace Chiu, Vice President, Direxion Investments

  ≪Moderator≫

Mr. Tetsuro Ii, President and CIO, Commons Asset Management Inc.

Special Presentations

【11:30】 2018 Outlook: Global Economy and Market Environment Updates

Bluford Putnam, Chief Economist, CME Group

【12:50】 Opening for the afternoon session

Alex Matturri, Chief Executive Officer, S&P Dow Jones Indices

【12:55】 Realization of financial and capital markets for transforming the flow of funds

Junichi Nakajima, Deputy director-General of Planning and Coordination Bureau, Financial Services Agency

Session 3:  Meeting Investors Needs with Product Diversification

【13:15】Indices’ Role Growing the ETF Market
David Blitzer, Chairman of Index Committee, S&P Dow Jones Indices

【13:30】 Innovating For Investor Needs: Modern Alpha
Jesper Koll, Chief Executive Officer, WisdomTree Japan Inc.

【13:45】 Panel discussion 2: Domestic ETF Product Developments 

 ≪Panelists≫

Masahiro Hotchi, Fund Management Division, Managing Director, Daiwa Asset Management Co.Ltd

Koei Imai, Head of ETF Center, Head of ETF Development Department, Head of ETF Promotion Department, Nikko Asset Management

Kohei Sasaki, Institutional Investor Sales Division, Senior Manager, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management

 ≪Moderator≫

Yasuyuki Kato, Ph.D. Professor, Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University, Japan

【14:50】 Panel discussion 3: Latest Development of European ETF Markets, Enforcement of MiFID2 and Impact to ETF Business

 ≪Panelists≫

Anson Chow, Director, Head of Exchange Traded Product Development, APAC, DWS Group

Christopher Friese, Head of Lyxor ETF – Asia, SG Securities (HK) Ltd

Deborah Fuhr, Partner and Co-Founder, ETFGI

 ≪Moderator≫

Kana Kawasaki, Senior Director, S&P Dow Jones Indices

Session 4: Challenges of Japanese ETF Market and Future Development

【15:30】The ETF Market in Japan --Issues and Perspectives
Hideki Kanda, Professor, Gakushuin University Law School, Chairman of Working Group on Financial Markets

【15:45】Panel discussion 4: Liquidity of ETF Market and BOJ’s Exit Strategy

 ≪Panelists≫

Jesper Koll, Chief Executive Officer, WisdomTree Japan Inc.

Hideki Kanda, Professor, Gakushuin University Law School, Chairman of Working Group on Financial Markets

Shinichi Ichikawa, Chief Market Strategist, Credit Suisse Securities (Japan) Limited

Toshihiro Nagahama, Chief Economist, Dai-ichi Life Research Institute

 ≪Moderator≫

Kazutoshi Tashiro, Ph. D.(Econ), Researcher, The Japan Securities Research Institute (JSRI)

Session 5: What Could Lie Ahead for the ETF Market?

Lessons from Abroad: Global ETF Ecosystem and Change of Domestic Infrastructure

【16:30】①Exchange Traded Fund Liquidity
Reginald Browne, Senior Managing Director, Cantor Fitzgerald

【16:45】②Development ETF Eco System in U.S. and Europe
Deborah Fuhr, Partner and Co-Founder, ETFGI

【17:00】③Introduction of ETF Market Making Incentive Scheme by Tokyo Stock Exchange
Kei Okazaki, Head of ETF Secondary Trading, Manager of Strategic Planning Group, Equities Department, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.

【17:15】Global ETF Trends and Looking Ahead
Yan Pu, Head of Portfolio Review, Asia, Vanguard Investments Hong Kong Limited

【17:35】 Panel Discussion 5: Increase of Liquidity: Working Toward More An Attractive ETF Market

 ≪Panelists≫

Norimitsu Takeda, Chief Investment Officer, Zurich Life Insurance company LTD

Yoshinobu Hirano, General Manager, Nara Chuo Shinkin Bank

Takeki Yamada, Institutional Trading, Flow Traders

Curtis Tai, Director, Asia-Pacific ETF Sales & Trading, Jane Street

 ≪Moderator≫

Kohei Sasaki, Institutional Investor Sales Division, Senior Manager, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management

【18:20】 Panel Discussion 6: Challenges for Next 10 Years in ETF Market

 ≪Panelists≫

Masaki Sugihara, Vice President, Exchange Traded Funds, State Street Global Advisors (Japan) Co., Ltd.

Osamu Okuyama, Head of Index Products, Investment and Research Division, Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd.

Shuntaro Tsukamoto, Head of Product Management, Vanguard Investment Japan, Ltd.

Jason Miller, Managing Director, Head of ETF Business Japan, BlackRock Japan Co., Ltd.

 ≪Moderator≫

Yoshiyuki Makino, Head of Tokyo Office, S&P Dow Jones Indices

The sponsor companies booths in exhibition hall were crowded especially during break time by many visitors. 

The breakout sessions were also held by sponsor companies throughout the day. The program was as follows:

【09:10-09:40】Part 1: Managing Volatility Using Indices: How did Volatility Controlled Indices Behaved during the Recent Market Condition?

                         Part 2: Latest Result of SPIVA Report: Passive vs. Active

Priscilla Luk, Managing Director, Global Research & Design, APAC, S&P Dow Jones Indices

【09:55-10:25】Income gain through ETFs: Results of Market Neutral and 3 type of REITs The result of the Mid-Small Cap ETFs for 1 year
Kohei Sasaki, Senior Manager, Institutional Sales Division, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management

【10:40-11:10】The Ecosystem of Japan ETF Market, current issues, Nikko Asset’s Challenge
Koei Imai, Head of ETF Center, Head of ETF Development Department, Head of ETF Promotion Department, Nikko Asset Management

【11:30-12:00】Use of ETFs by Regional Financial Institutions: Its practice and challenges
Yoshinobu Hirano, General Manager, Nara Chuo Shinkin Bank

【13:15-13:45】Evolving Investors’ Needs and Latest Development of Model Portfolios ～Rethinking Factor Investing～
Yoko Arai, Director, Multi-Asset Strategies, BlackRock Japan Co., Ltd.

【14:00-14:30】Vanguard’s Factor Investment
Shuntaro Tsukamoto, Head of Product Management, Vanguard Investment Japan, Ltd.

【14:50-15:20】WisdomTree’s view on Global  Investors’ Trends & Investment themes

Jesper Koll, Chief Executive Officer of WisdomTree Japan Inc.

Masafumi Watanabe, ETF Strategist, WisdomTree Japan Inc.

【15:45-16:15】“Asia, Europe or US?”- top questions to consider when assessing ETF venue of trading
Anson Chow, Director, Head of Exchange Traded Product Development, APAC, DWS Group

【16:30-17:00】Combining Active & Passive, and its Actionable Ideas - to construct more efficient portfolios -
Masaki Sugihara, Vice President, Exchange Traded Funds, State Street Global Advisors (Japan) Co., Ltd.

【17:15-17:45】Corporate Value Creation through ETF Investment

Mizue Oshima, Senior ESG Specialist, Responsible Investment Dept.

Osamu Okuyama, Head of Index Products, Investment and Research Div. Nomura Asset Management

After successful completion of the conference, Mr. Yoshiaki Makino, Head of Tokyo Office, S&P Dow Jones Indices, made closing remarks.

As pioneer and the world’s largest money market index provider, having long tradition of offering investable benchmark indices, S&P DJI offer a benchmark to accurately measure the market. Through providing results of reliable and highly transparent indices such as equities, bonds, commodities and real estate as well as S&P 500 and Dow Jones industry average which is their flagship indices, they cover broad range of customers such as asset management companies, OTC derivative product issuers, ETF providers, major exchanges and institutional investors.

While ETF (including ETN) market of the world continues to expand from approximately 1.5 trillion US dollars of net assets in 2010 have grown to approximately 3.5 trillion dollars as the end of December 2016, also Japan’s 2017 (annual) ETF market trading value reached 38.8889 trillion yen, the 3rd ranking record. As implementing continuous market promotion measures such as starting market-making system from the summer of 2018 for the purpose of expanding liquidity of ETF market and anticipation of growth of its market in the future, we would like to expect S&P DJI’s next ETF Conference will also be a success.

(photo by S& P Dow Jones Indices  /  article edited & published by Promotion Division, GoodWay)