IG Securities Co., Ltd. Representative Director Tomomoto Furuichi

Bringing unconventional, world-class investment opportunities to Japan

Representative Director, IG Securities Co., Ltd.　Tomomoto Furuichi(Furuichi and Haruharu)

■ Profile

Originally from Sapporo, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo and earned an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is 58 years old. He played the drums as a student. His eldest son and daughter graduated from university and high school this year, respectively. He has led two Japanese companies and two foreign companies, achieving record-breaking results. He has been on both the job interview and the interview process countless times. On his days off, he likes to maintain his health, take walks, read, and spend time with his family.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the IG Group. It is used in over 15 countries and handles over 100 different currencies. Its strength is its ability to trade at global standards with an overwhelming number of stocks, and it aims to provide investment opportunities, including overseas assets, to a diverse range of users. We spoke to President Furuichi about his career so far and about the outlook for IG Securities.

■The period when I transitioned from management consulting to corporate management

　I graduated from the University of Tokyo, but at the time I was only thinking about how to get the lowest possible grades to pass the exams, and I wasn't really thinking about job hunting. I didn't have a specific goal in mind, so I decided to apply to McKinsey & Company Japan, a foreign consulting firm that was listed on the last page of a Recruit brochure.
If I had to choose one thing, I didn't want to work in the finance industry. It was very popular at the time, and I didn't want to do the same thing as everyone else. I still didn't have a clear path in mind, so I decided to join consulting, thinking it would allow me to focus on what I wanted to do. I worked at McKinsey for 12 years, including one year on a secondment to Disney's Japanese subsidiary, where I sold 100,000 copies of a video projected to sell 20,000 copies. I'd always had an interest in film, so I really enjoyed it. After that, I took a two-year leave of absence from McKinsey to study for an MBA at the University of Chicago. One of the reasons I went was to see Michael Jordan live, but he retired just before I left (laughs). I returned to McKinsey for two years, but I wanted to try my hand at running a company, so I moved to Intelligence, a publicly traded human resources service provider that offered recruitment and temporary staffing services, as an executive officer, and witnessed the company's rapid growth. I then built my career in corporate management as a director at Samantha Thavasa and as representative director at GILT.

My encounter with IG Securities

I've worked for a variety of companies, but I joined IG Securities because someone approached me. After my final interview in London, I saw an advertisement for IG Securities on the back of my taxi receipt on the way to the airport. It felt like a connection, and I joined. I wasn't particularly interested in the financial industry since my student days, but a chance encounter led me to it. Initially, I thought I'd never enter the financial industry, but I met some great people. IG Group operates in over 15 countries, including the United States and Australia, and offers over-the-counter derivatives such as foreign exchange, stock indexes, commodities like crude oil, and bonds. Following the change in IG Group's global CEO in 2018, I joined the company as it sought to grow Japan as a strategic market. With my previous experience in management consulting and corporate management, I was asked to approach the overall growth strategy. At the time, our client base was very limited, but I worked on improving our marketing and services to reach a wider range of traders.

■ Future investment and asset management

Japan's securities market is unique, with regulations that are completely different from those in the UK, where the company is headquartered. It's subdivided by asset class, and cryptocurrency regulations are different. However, one thing they have in common is that, in this rapidly changing era, more and more people will need to invest and manage their assets. The key to this is not to follow a formulaic investment strategy, but to think for yourself and find your own investment method. Of course, there will be times when you fail in your investments, but we want to provide opportunities for many people. It's also important to be proactive and not miss any opportunities, so that global asset management and investment become the norm.
One of the challenges facing our company going forward is how to compete against industry-leading financial companies such as SBI Securities, Rakuten Securities, and DMM Securities. We are focusing on overseas markets outside of Japan and on financial products that other companies don't offer, so we want to be able to meet the diverse needs of our customers. We also need to keep our eyes on things that other companies haven't noticed yet. I think our strength lies in our willingness to flexibly take on new products and services, rather than simply relying on financial strength to compete.

■Message to university students

I believe there are two main keys to success. The first is luck. Luck is not something you can rely on, but something you can naturally attract by predicting areas where you can grow, meeting good people, and continuing to work hard. The other is foresight. I also ask my employees about this, but it's important to think ahead and act, thinking about what you're doing now and how it will lead to the future.
It's perfectly fine if you haven't decided what you want to do while you're a student. I think that's natural. But even if things don't go well, the most important thing is not to blame others or your environment. Instead of being driven by profit and loss, just trying to find the good in people can make a big difference in how you see things. I'm not in a position to say this with authority, but I hope that all university students will cherish these things and do their best.

Interview with Sophia University sophomore, Himari Shirasaka, published November 23, 2024 on Student Newspaper Online

　Renpo Maeda, second-year student at Chuo University / Himawari Shirasaka, second-year student at Sophia University